love

The Measure of Love

True love nurtures growth. It doesn’t simply accept someone as they are and leave them there. It patiently encourages what’s good, gently corrects what’s harmful, extends grace when grace is needed, and quietly draws out the very best in the one it loves. When I stop and think about it, isn’t that exactly how Christ…
Room for One More

One of the things I learned to appreciate about my father is that he never seemed to spend much time asking whether he could afford to help someone. He simply helped them. That probably sounds reckless to some people. Looking back, there were certainly times when our own circumstances weren’t exactly overflowing with abundance. We…
The Chapters Before Us

Father’s Day has a way of making me think about things I didn’t understand when I was younger. Not because nobody explained them to me, but because children have a limited view of the world. They see what’s directly in front of them and assume that’s the whole story. When I was little, I knew…
Known and Loved: No Masks Needed

Scripture Focus: “[Love] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” —1 Corinthians 13:7 It’s hard to imagine a life completely free from shame, embarrassment, and that awkward little inner critic that seems to keep detailed records. We cringe at things we’ve said, choices we’ve made, weaknesses we wish weren’t there,…
The Language of Love and Light

Scripture Focus: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” —Ephesians 4:29 Words are powerful little things. They can build a bridge, open a door, calm a storm, or accidentally start one before breakfast. And most…
Holding On Through the Storms

Scripture Focus: “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it…” —Song of Solomon 8:7 Real love is not a paper umbrella in a thunderstorm. It’s not the kind of thing that collapses the moment the wind picks up or life starts throwing sideways rain. Scripture describes true love as something stronger than…
Growing Faith

Scripture Focus: 2 Peter 1:5-8 “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that…
The Quiet Work of Love

If you’ve ever watched a fire burn low in the evening, you know something about love in its truest form. The early flames are lively — bright, dancing, impressive. But the real heat comes later. When the wood has settled. When the crackling quiets. When what remains is steady and strong. That’s the kind of…
Love in Its Truest Form

Love is not the spark alone,Not roses laid at twilight’s door,Not whispered words that fade by noon,Or hearts sketched lightly on a shore. Love is not the pulse of thrillThat races bright, then settles low.It is the quiet, steadfast willTo stay when lesser feelings go. It is the lamp in storm-tossed air,The hand that does…
What I Carry Into the Night

Lamentations 2:19 “Arise, cry out in the night… in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children…” There are nights when I’m not reflecting so much as surviving my own thoughts. The house…