I want to dissolve
into your warm comfort
until all earthly boundaries
melt away
in your light
your love
your all in all
until I cease to be I
and you cease to be you
this and this alone
my soul craves
yet here I am
imprisoned in flesh
cold and alone
body broken
heart shattered
aching and bleeding
soul weeping for release
embodied longing
screaming silently
in your name
do you even hear me
are you even there
~Robert Van Valkenburgh
Reflection:
There is a deep and ancient ache in the human soul that no comfort of this world can soothe. It is the longing not merely to be held by God, but to dissolve into Him — to lose the sharp edges of self, the weight of pain, the prison of isolation, and to rest in a love that knows no separation. The mystics spoke of this as union, but for most of us it feels more like absence. We reach out, we cry out, we wait, and heaven feels silent.
To be embodied is to feel this tension intensely. We live with limits, wounds, and loneliness that make the promise of divine closeness feel distant. And yet, this very longing is itself a form of prayer. Our aching is not a sign that God is absent; it is often the quiet evidence that God is drawing us deeper. Even the cry, “Are you there?” can be an act of faith.
There are seasons when the soul feels suspended between desire and doubt — yearning to disappear into divine love while feeling painfully aware of its own brokenness. But the Christian path has always held this paradox: we do not escape the flesh to find God. We meet Him here, in the trembling, the questioning, the wounded places. The longing itself becomes the meeting place. And in time, we begin to discover that the One we are reaching for has been holding us all along.
Question for meditation:
Where do I most deeply feel the ache for God’s presence, and what might that longing be trying to teach me?
Related Scripture:
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?” — Psalm 42:2
For Further Reading: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Oratio Divina: Longing For Love
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