Have you tried to define or describe divine love? Colette Lafia takes us on a journey of what it means to her, and how she feels it has shown up in her life:

It was another spring night when I’d been unable to sleep. I was in the midst of yet another flare-up of insomnia. Wrapped in a wool blanket on the sofa in the quiet darkness, I lay on my back.

I felt myself becoming very still, my attention drawing inward. I could feel a gentle pulsing within me. In my heart, I felt something soft, subtle, and generous.

My Experience With Divine Love

The best way I could describe it is as Divine Love, this warm shroud that, for a moment, nurtured and cared for me. Eventually, I fell asleep. When the next day came, I felt a tightness inside, and an old fear gripping me—but there was also a longing to remember, to return to that feeling, to trust what I had experienced during those wakeful hours before.

Something had been revealed to me, and I wanted to follow it. Even though I kept feeling the fear, I could also feel a depth in my heart opening up, and I wanted to get to know it more.

A few days later, during a freewriting exercise in a poetry workshop I was attending, the poem I titled “Leaving the Shore” began to emerge. I could feel a deepening, how the poem was carrying on what had started that night for me. It helped me to trust in the experience I’d had.

Each time I read and revised it, I could sense the Divine drawing me away from familiar shores into the deeper waters of love.
The path of healing for me has always been entwined with creativity. Creativity has been a pathway to prayer for me, and with them, I have navigated the highs and lows of my life, including the loss of my sister to breast cancer and my own journey of infertility.

Creativity, Divine Love, and Healing

It was at times of the most extreme disappointment and sorrow that I reached for my journal or my paintbrush to help connect me to something larger than my own desperation, to something I’ve always intuited as divine love.

I do believe that God is a creative energy, and I wanted to jump into that stream. Following the inspiration of that sleepless night, I went on to complete my first book of poetry, titled: Leaving the Shore: Experiencing Poetry as Prayer.

Writing poetry was a place where I could more deeply discover my spiritual life, a place where I could meet God, and a place where I could heal. Writing poetry and being creative became a way for me to connect with the Divine, with myself, and with the world.

In my role as a Spiritual Director and retreat leader, I get to sit with many people from all walks of life and bear witness to their suffering, their longing, and their search for greater spiritual connection. It is always amazing to me how the quietness of a poem can often open a door to greater receptivity and acceptance.

Creativity is a footpath towards finding greater spiritual nourishment in the day-to-day rituals of our lives, and year after year, I find a deeper trust in the benevolence of the Great Spirit that stirs within and around us, no matter how challenging circumstances may be.

Colette Lafia is an award-winning writer, retreat leader, and spiritual director living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has spent decades guiding individuals into deeper contemplative practice through workshops, retreats, and one-on-one spiritual
direction. A former school librarian and regular presenter for Spiritual Directors International, she brings a rare blend of poetic sensibility, contemplative depth, and accessible warmth to her work. Her new book is Leaving the Shore: Experiencing Poetry
as Prayer (Monkfish Book Publishing, 2025). Learn more at colettelafia.com.