Only Love Is Forever: Finding Light in the Darkness That Feels Without End (Oratio Divina)

Sometimes the darkness
feels like forever
feels like the beginning
and the end
everything in between
was merely a trick
a trap
a deception
dizzy with confusion
it’s so easy to give in
to turn away from hope
to let the darkness name me
but there is hope
there is a memory
a reminder
a flicker of divine light
in the distance
a reflection of God’s light
flickering in me
slowly it recollects me
slowly it reclaims me
slowly it renames me
and I remember the truth
that only love is forever
in the beginning
until the end
~Robert Van Valkenburgh

Reflection:
There are seasons when the darkness feels endless, as if it has always been and always will be. In those moments, memory fades. Hope feels distant. Even the idea of light can seem like a trick our hearts once believed but can no longer trust. The lie of darkness is not just that it hurts — it is that it convinces us it is permanent, that it is the truest thing about us.

Yet somewhere within us, even when buried beneath confusion and sorrow, a small flicker remains. Not a blazing certainty. Not a dramatic revelation. Just a quiet remembering. A gentle pull. A subtle hope that refuses to be extinguished.

This flicker is not something we manufacture. It is something already placed within us. The light of God does not always arrive as rescue. Sometimes it comes as recollection. A slow return. A re-gathering of our divine self — the imago dei — from the places where fear and despair tried to scatter it. It renames us when we have forgotten who we are. It reminds us that our identity is not found in the darkness we endure but in the love that created us.

And so the journey back is often gradual. Slowly we are recollected. Slowly reclaimed. Slowly renamed. Until at last we remember the deepest truth: only love has the power to endure from the beginning to the end.

Question for Meditation:
Where in your life do you sense even the faintest flicker of God’s light still quietly calling you back to hope?

Related Scripture:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” — John 1:5 (NRSV)

For Further Reading:
If you enjoyed this reflection, you may also like Oratio Divina: Without A Hand To Hold