Love

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is blind.

“Love your neighbor,” I hear the pastor say,
standing there in his dark blue suit
with his carefully combed‑over hair —
hair that, if we’re being honest,
looked like it was trying to escape
from the top of his head.

“The Bible says to love your enemies too,” he added.

A little boy in a bright yellow shirt raised his hand.
“What if I don’t know my neighbors?
Do I still gotta love them?
And how can I love my enemy
if they don’t love me?”

Before the pastor could answer,
Ms. Wanda leaned over and said,
“It don’t matter, baby.
God loves us, so we gotta love everybody too.
He leads by example —
and we follow.”

Though she was small in stature,
her words were huge.
They echoed in my ears long after she spoke.

Love.
A simple word with a heavy weight.
A word so many people use in vain,
never realizing the power pulsing through it —
the bright red color that sprouts from its veins,
oozing out, covering wrong and healing pain.

It flows from our mouths so effortlessly.
But do we really know
the true meaning
of love?

Love is easy to quote but hard to live. It stretches us, humbles us, exposes us, and heals us all at once. It asks us to look past what we prefer and lean into what God commands. It’s not soft or shallow — it’s a discipline, a choice, a daily practice. And sometimes the clearest lessons come from unexpected places: a child’s honest question, a woman like Ms. Wanda with wisdom tucked inside her small frame, or a pastor whose hair is fighting its own battle

.

Love isn’t just something we say.
It’s something we become.
And every day, God gives us another chance to learn how.