Spiritual Orbit

I have been watching Nova on PBS and this wonderful series on the solar system. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/

I became interested in the orbits and how they have an elliptical shape. In that orbit the is an apogee and a perigee. At leas for the moon around the Earth. For Earth around the sun is is called aphelion and perihelion. "Ap" being furthest away from the body orbited and "peri" closest.



I cannot help but notice that my spiritual journey seems to have such a cycle to it. In my orbit around God I often feel at aphelion, far and distant.
All I can do is stick to my disciplines as best I can, dry though they may be, scripture, psalms, sacraments, readings, etc.

Practice patience until perihelion and I feel the warmth and closeness again .

I think also that my own intention of surrender has something to do with this cycle. When I feel closest to God I am better able to surrender to God's will for me. Is it the closeness that enables this or is it the desire to surrender that brings me closer?

But I like this metaphor of gravity. It is God's pull on us welcoming us to union. But I guess we have the momentum of sin/selfishness that keeps us out there resisting.