Soil and Sun

“The connection you are creating here is like a flower. It requires soil and sun, things that, thanks to God, are given freely. But it is you, all of us, who has to water the flower to make it grow. Without water, all relations remain small. They can’t open, and eventually they die.”― Tembi Locke, From Scratch

“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”― bell hooks

A daily decision.
To love people where they are.
Self, included.
Not where we want them to be.
Not where they were in the past.
Not where they will be in the future.
Right now, on this very ground.
That’s what makes love so hard.
To move beyond our expectations.
To not get our way.
To offer understanding when we don’t receive it.
When love takes root, it overflows, grows, blooms.
Making it the only viable way to walk through this world with joy.
Less fear, more love.
A daily decision.
Bright. Bold. Beautiful.
Show your true colors.

“But when we feel we are not understood, there is a sense in which we are homeless. And so we must always provide a home of understanding. There will inevitably be times when we do not understand someone’s behavior or a certain response, but we can understand the person.”― Mary Francis, A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season