(Written and first shared during Advent 2020)
It’s an understatement to say that this life is challenging. When we’re in the midst of difficulty (and I’ve had my share), it’s easy to feel as if we’re alone or have done something wrong to deserve our lot, that we’re not lovable, or even to wonder what the point of it all is.
No matter our faith, these thoughts and feelings are not unusual or uncommon. For me, the questions that have surfaced during the toughest times have been the catalyst for a deeper journey into the mystery which is God. What I’ve found is love.
I’m convinced that this life is about love—learning to love and learning to be loved; I’m convinced that we were created wholly for love. Perhaps that seems too simple or trite for some, however the process through which we come to live into this love is, for many of us, anything but simple. It takes a certain humility and courage, in some cases cast upon us involuntarily, to come to recognize and unpack the personal struggles which we face in order to reveal our truest self, the person whom God created us to be.
But if God is love, what else could God create but love? We are absolutely capable of living lives of love. More so, it is innately who we are.
As we light the candle of love this fourth and final week of Advent; as we journey through life, as we wait, painstakingly and patiently (or not so patiently) for love to come in all its many forms, let us remember that love is already within us.
Let us embrace the gift of life, who we are, and each other. If heaven is love, let us abide in heaven. If love is the way, let us be heaven on earth this very day.
As we continue to grow and discover,
May we love more.
May we know that love —Emmanuel—is here;
God is with us.