“Is that all You’ve got?” I said to God as I stood beneath the stars.
I was twenty-eight years old, alone in a pop-up camper in my backyard, determined not to come out until I knew whether God was real. (I reveal the full story in my book, Divine Flow: Reclaiming the Lost Art of Contemplation for Everyday Life).
Around three a.m., I stepped outside. A shooting star crossed the sky, and deep within me I sensed God whispering:
I love you. I’m real. Follow me.
My breathing slowed. My chest softened. For a moment, I knew I was in the presence of God.
And then, almost before the moment had time to settle into my heart, I looked toward heaven and said the words that still make me smile: “Is that all You’ve got?”
Looking back, the question sounds prideful. But it was also deeply human. Maybe something many of us do.
We receive a glimpse of grace and immediately want more—a clearer sign, a stronger feeling, something that’ll remove every doubt.
Maybe our longing for God isn’t the problem. Maybe we confuse the intensity of an experience with the depth of a relationship.
Do You Love God or the Consolations of God?
St. Bernard warned that we can love what God gives us more than we love God. We can become so focused on the peace, comfort, or clarity we experience in prayer that we measure God’s presence by how we feel. When prayer feels good, we assume God is close. When it feels dry or empty, we wonder where God went.
The “consolations of God” are those moments when we experience God in a deeply felt way—through peace, tears, warmth, sudden clarity, or a strong sense that we’re loved and held. These experiences are beautiful gifts. They encourage us, strengthen our faith, and remind us that God is near. But there’s a difference between receiving these gifts and becoming attached to them.
It’s like the difference between loving a spouse or partner for who they are and focusing mainly on what they do for us. We can love someone for their heart, their presence, and the gift of sharing life with them. Or we can focus mostly on how they make us feel, meet our needs, or make our lives easier.
The same thing can happen with God. We can love God for who God is—the One who created us, sustains us, guides us, and walks with us through every season of life. Or we can become attached to the peace, clarity, or spiritual high we sometimes experience and keep trying to recapture that feeling.
Feelings come and go. Prayer can feel alive one day and dry the next. Yet God remains.
The spiritual life deepens not by collecting peak experiences, but by learning to love and trust God even when nothing extraordinary seems to be happening.
Awakening to the God Who’s Already Here
Perhaps that’s the invitation to grow spiritually: not trying to make God appear but awakening to the God who’s already here.
God is in this breath, the sunlight moving across the floor, the voice of someone we love, the dog resting at our feet, or the silence before the day begins.
None of these moments has to be spectacular. We notice. We receive. We let the ordinary reveal the Love already holding it.
The old question may still surface: Is this enough? But the present moment doesn’t demand certainty. It invites relationship. It asks us to stop reaching for the next experience long enough to receive the love already here.
Many of us know how to seek God, serve God, and try to please God. Receiving love can be harder. Yet we don’t have to earn this moment, produce a feeling, or prove that God’s real. We can simply be here—and let God love us here. Now.
From Longing to Gratitude
Now that I’m sixty-seven, I can look back on that twenty-eight-year-old with more tenderness than embarrassment. His question—“Is that all You’ve got?”—became one I’ve spent four decades living into.
The question was not wrong. It expressed a real hunger for God.
But that hunger is meant to mature. Over time, our prayer can move from “God, give me something bigger” to “God, help me see what You’re already giving me.”
We can pray, “God, I long for more of You,” while also saying, “Thank You for all the ways You’re loving me right now.”
The first prayer reaches toward God. The second receives God.
We need both. Yet gratitude may become the deeper prayer—not because our longing disappears, but because we recognize how faithfully God has been loving us all along.
The shooting star was a gift. So is this breath. This body. The people who love us. The quiet moments that don’t feel dramatic. Each one reminds us: God is here. Love is here. Love sustains us.
A Street Level Practice
Take several quiet minutes. Put down your phone and sit comfortably. Place one hand over your heart or on your belly.
Notice your breath moving in and out. Don’t change it. Receive it.
As you breathe in, quietly say: God, You’re here.
As you breathe out, say: Thank You for loving me here.
Notice one simple sign of life around you: light through a window, a sound in the room, the warmth of your hand, or the air entering your lungs.
Don’t chase an experience. Let the moment be what it is.
When your heart longs for more, let it pray: God, I want more of You.
Then return to gratitude: And thank You for all the ways You’re already here.
Rest there for a few breaths. Let longing open your heart. Let gratitude help you receive God’s loving presence.
The Deeper Invitation
“Is that all You’ve got?” is where honest faith begins, because deep within us there is a natural longing to experience more of God.
But faith matures when that question slowly gives way to another prayer:
“Thank You for all You’ve given me.”
Not because our questions disappear. Not because life suddenly makes sense. But because we learn to recognize God has been present all along—in the joy and the struggle, the clarity and the silence, the consolation and the dryness.
The deeper invitation is not to chase one more spiritual experience. It is to awaken to the love already here, receive it, and let it be enough.
—brian plachta
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Looking for a Summer Reset for Your Soul?
If you’ve been longing to slow down, quiet the noise, and experience God’s presence in a deeper way, I’d love to invite you to join me for a free online four-week Divine Flow Book Study.
Together, we’ll explore simple practices from Divine Flow that help us move from just reading about God to actually living in the flow of God’s presence.
It’s best to join us live if you can, but if you’re unable to attend a session, each gathering will be recorded for registered participants.
We start tomorrow, June 28th, at 7:00 PM Eastern!
To learn more and register, click the link below.
P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy of Divine Flow, here are the links to purchase:
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