Yearning is a universal human experience, that each of must manage. We try to walk a path that lies between our being engulfed in and denying this profound longing. The Psalms, sacred songs of the Hebrew bible, can help articulate this landscape. There are 150 poems; a vast range of emotion and lived experience. Today we reflect on Psalm 42, which depicts longing - beautifully - as a thirst for pure water.
If you wish, spend some time with Psalm 42.
What might it mean to encounter, remain with, drink and savour the things we long for? What might it be like to experience (fully) God, the Divine or that essential life and love existing between all things? Perhaps, as the poet T S Eliot said, “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.”
In this life, tasting and seeing goodness involves comparison. Abundance is experienced if we know scarcity; we feel adrift because we have felt anchored; loneliness strikes because we have been accompanied - possibly even by God or our true self, that company which draws us back to who we are.
To pant for water is an awareness of something lacking.
To pant for water is to recognise a need, and how it may be met.
To pant for water is a yearning that prompts a response.
Image thanks to Sharada Prasad on Flickr.
Medics advise regular drinking to remain hydrated; thirst may be a sign of having left it too long. The bible expresses a Divine invitation to drink of God’s self continually, rather than wait until there is something lacking.
How do we do this?
Through reading scriptures, prayer, being attentive to the Divine spark in one another and in creation? By making space so we are not swept up; by refusing to enter anxious social games and communications? In rest? We try to do these things at Whirlow. What works for you, as you hope to savour each drop of life and sustain yourself?
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We may always yearn. But perhaps we can be driven and motivated by love, curiosity and humble desire, not anguished panting and need.
As a closing reflection, imagine being on someone’s mind for all time.
Imagine having someone in your thoughts from this moment on.
Imagine your cup full and overflowing with God’s provision for you and with what you are provided with to share with others.
You may want to use the poem below by Kate Brumby and / or Adele’s heartbreaking version of Bob Dylan’s song about yearning to love and be loved.