One of the things I have always resisted is this saying, “people are brought into your life for a season.” I love deeply. I throw myself fully into friendships and relationships. But then I started realizing, as one child after another grew up and left home, as a marriage ended, as a career changed, as friend groups changed I found myself holding back parts of myself. I figured…well what is the point? This season will pass too and I will have invested so much! After all…they were only brought into my life for a season. I didn’t want to suffer the loss.
But now I am realizing that love is about walking through life. Love is when someone calls just at the moment you thought all hope was gone. Love is the sweet kiss of a dog or cat that just wants to please you. Love is the smile that greets you from a stranger in a store. Love is a friend that knows you need to get out because you have felt down. Love is holding a newborn for the first time. Love is the one that loves the unlovely.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”(I Cor 13:4-8a NIV)
Love is worth the risk. It is worth going through the seasons of change. Yes, there will be change, there will be bittersweet nostalgia…but the seasons of change can be beautiful indeed!
First published January 30, 2016