Yet our will can rejoice in choosing Him, even when our emotions are barren, and our intellect clouded. I believe it was Thomas Aquinas, great medieval theologian, who stated that each of us yearns most for happiness. Yet, for happiness to be all that we wish for, it must be perfect, unchanging, and eternal. Thus, the only real happiness is in union with God. We may have a spirit of joyous expectation, even in times of trial, when we long for this perfect and eternal happiness.
All love brings with it longing, sacrifice, and a sense that it is never totally fulfilled.
Indeed, in this world, we shall never have the total fulfilment that our spirit seeks. But we can wait, in this joy, knowing that God is with us in this life - and has perfect joy for us in eternity. The spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. So you, my flame of grass, my root of the world from which all Springs shall grow, O you, my hawthorn bough of the stars, now leaning low Through the day, for your flowers to kiss my lips, shall know He is the core of the heart of love, and He, beyond labouring seas, our ultimate shore.