I’m not sure this matters.
I don’t know if it will make any difference.
I don’t know if it will do anything to penetrate the thick and heavy sadness out there—but I feel compelled to try.
I am moved to step into the dense fog of grief and fear that seems to have settled upon these days and upon our collective hearts, to remind you that all is not lost.
I wanted to lift your weary eyes, which have been so fixed on all that hurts and all that is wrong and ask you to see beyond it, to the place where Love is.
Love is, you know?
Love still is.
Despite all the things around that would have you believe otherwise, despite so much evidence to the contrary, it is still doing its sacred work in this place.
Love is moving in these very moments. As you breathe so it breathes. As you live, it lives.
It is still out there discovering hidden goodness and noticing beauty in the ordinary and finding reason to dance in suffering.
It is still sacrificing itself and embracing hurt and mending wounds.
It is still there, firmly planted in the center of your chest.
Right now…
… two people are unknowingly beginning a beautiful lifetime together.
… a reassuring hand is being gently placed upon another’s shaking shoulders.
… new life is silently being formed within a hopeful mother’s belly.
… exhausted parents are pouring themselves out yet again for their children.
… songs are being written and memories are being made and laughter is bubbling up.
… strangers are exchanging smiles and holding doors open and stopping along the roadside.
In these very moments, people are being encouraged, relationships are being rebuilt, forgiveness is being granted, faith is being found, sobriety is being claimed, friendships are being forged, kindness is being exchanged. Scraped knees are being kissed, disappointed losers are being consoled, nervous proposals are being accepted, second chances are being given, simple victories are being celebrated.
Much of this won’t make the news though, so it will be easy to miss. It’s isn’t click-worthy or headline grabbing or remotely sensational, and as such it will be relegated to the periphery of our attention; hidden from view, barely noticeable in our rush to attend to so much violence.
That’s why we need to stop and notice it.
That’s why we need to bend to discover it, why we have to push our way through the jagged noise to reach its sheltered softness, to dig below all that screams so loudly and find the quiet places where it resides.
In times like these we need to be reminded of the simple, unvarnished reality of Love.
This may be sentimental and sappy and corny, but then again we could use a heavy dose of that about now. Maybe those are the only things that can cut through the thick, calloused shell of sarcasm and bitterness we’ve acquired while dwelling on all that is not loving in the world.
Perhaps what seems so trite and superfluous and trivial is actually the truest truth we have, and what we need most today.
These words aren’t magic, I know. They won’t dissolve difficulties or engineer justice or fix all that is broken around us or in us, but maybe they’ll give us a place to begin again.
Perhaps you and I will pause and breathe today; recalibrate our hearts and refocus our eyes to that which redeems, that which encourages, that which lifts, that which cannot be defeated.
Friend, look around you.
Look in the mirror.
Look carefully.
Love is still in the business of doing what only Love can do.
And it will have the last, beautiful word.
Be greatly encouraged, beloved.
