Wordless Wonder

[Mark Dohle]

Wordless Yearning​

Often times our relationships can bring to the fore our deep and abiding loneliness. We are often attracted to people who do not return it. As the song goes “Everyone here is thinking about someone else”. We seek a place of rest but never find it. Or if we do it is only for a time. This is often called ‘infatuation’, until reality sets in and the imperfections of those we love become often painfully obvious. Even when two humans, be it in friendship, or a deeply committed marriage, there are still present the seeds of inner aloneness that can’t be avoided even after years of experiencing each other. There is always a part that is not seen, adverted to, or impossible to convey to one another.

Yet the longing is there, often a wordless yearning. Is it this longing for the ‘Other’? For a union of some sort...of communicating on a level that is actually wordless, but partakes of all human expression? There are times, often unplanned, when we can get a taste of this with a friend, or with a marriage or life partner. A time when there is a connection made that is so deep that no words can express it…..it is a heart thing, pointing I believe to a deeper reality.

The human journey is not an easy one. It is often the fear of our inner pain that keeps us from experiencing the deeper caverns of life. God’s love, being infinite is beyond our comprehension. So in order to experience it on a personal level, there are wounds, immature expectations, and often childishness which can cause all kinds of problems on our seeking God.

Through it all, we are guided in an often hidden, obscure manner by the Holy Spirit. It is faith that keeps us on the path, which matures us, and hollows us out, leaving only an inner void that only God’s love can heal. This has to be experienced to believe. In the often arid path, or dark woods that faith leads us into, there is also a joy and deep peace that we have no control over, it just is, like grace just is.-Br.MD