Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way …
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.
–Joseph Whelan, SJ 

I need to find and
fall in love with God
in an absolute, final way.
That would bring me peace and direction.

I hear
I need to love God more.
I hear
I don’t love God enough;
that’s my problem.

I feel my heart sink,
my back get up.

I go outside in the cool of the morning,
ascend the switchbacks and walk along the Grey Canal Trail.
I rub sage through my fingers
and bring its wild fragrance to my nose.
A chipmunk scampers over rocks
leading me to vistas of mountains, orchards and lakes.
I don’t notice the colour purple until I turn around to come home–
first a few flowers, then more.
Purple alfalfa covers the hillside.

You can’t make yourself fall in love, they seem to say.
You just do.

I pause and realize I’m falling in love
with this land and its creatures,
and they’re falling in love with me.
I am falling in love with God
in a practical,
absolute way.

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

This week’s poem was inspired by a Living from the Heart podcast interview with Victoria Loorz, author of Church of the Wild. You can listen to that conversation here.

Credits and References:
Medicago sativa subsp. sativa (alfalfa). Waite Institute. Adelaide, South Australia. Photo: Michael Major for Crop Trust
Falling in Love by Esther Hizsa, 2026
Alfalfa field from Time Health

© Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim, 2026.
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without permission from Esther Hizsa is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided there is a link to the original content and credit is given as follows: © Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim 2013-2026.  http://www.estherhizsa.com