A reflection on the poem, "To A Long-Loved Love," by Madeleine L'Engle

I know why a star gives light
Shining quietly in the night;
Arithmetic helps me unravel
The hours and years this light must travel
       To penetrate our atmosphere.
I can count the craters on the moon
With telescopes to make them clear.
With delicate instruments I can measure
The secrets of barometric pressure.
       And therefore I find it inexpressibly queer
That with my own soul I am out of tune,
And that I have not stumbled upon the art
Of forecasting the weather of the heart.

(L'Engle, Madeleine (2009-02-04). The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L'Engle (Kindle Locations 351-356). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.}

This is the third part of a beautiful poem entitled, “To A Long-Loved Love,” by the poet and author, Madeleine L’Engle. This poem in three parts is about the long term relationship Madeleine has had as a lover with another person. And, while this is about a love relationship with another human being, I believe that the poem can be read to express the intimate relationship we all have with God. In spite of how long our love relationship with God has been, have we not at times faltered in that relationship? Even the great apostle to the Gentiles, Paul of Tarsas, writes in his letter to the Romans, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate …For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Rm 7: 15,19) We all love imperfectly, even to those to whom we are the most devoted. However, God loves us perfectly and accepts us as we are, imperfections and all. There is a story about Rabbi Zusya prior to his death saying, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: “Why were you not Moses:” They will ask me: “Why were you not Zusya?”  Even though we may be out of tune with our own souls, God is always in tune with our souls. God knows intimately the melody our soul sings, even if we do not hear it ourselves.