Kindly Broken

Love is in everything. It’s in our breath. It’s in the lessons we learn. Love is what moves us day in and day out and should we forget that, we feel great dread. I’m not one to revel in sounding sure, but this thing i’m sure of- Love is a mighty force, a vast space, and an eternal thread. It brings us to our new beginnings and it brings us to an end.

I’ve found I’ve developed some resistance in my work and life lately. I feel it may be love calling to me. Inviting me to be centered and stop trying to balance it all. It reminds me to simplify. It reminds me to let go of what i’m clenching and trust. Trust love and no one else-except they be a vessel of love. To cry and quit and agonize freely in its presence and then be reborn.

I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but I’m tired too. There. You are not the only one. Dreaming and hoping and wishing is tiring enough- especially when you do it with all your heart and soul. When everything else is considered, a day seems so cruel a span of time to process and layout what takes up space in our hearts. Yet here we are. Being called on by love to be kindly broken so that we may be filled without limit. You see? Love is inviting us to be apart of itself.

For even as love crowns you so shall he

crucify you. Even as he is for your growth
so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and

caresses your tenderest branches that quiver
in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and

shake them in their clinging to the earth.

•

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto
himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred
fire, that you may become sacred bread for
God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your
heart, and in that knowledge become a
fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only
love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover
your nakedness and pass out of love’s
threshing-floor,
Into the season-less world where you
shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.
•
Love gives naught but itself and takes
naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be
possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
“God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am
in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill
itself.
But if you love and must needs have
desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own under-
standing of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate
love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the
beloved in your heart and a song of praise
upon your lips.

-Khalil Gibran, On Love

May we all rise in gratitude for another day of loving. In our work, in our families, dreams, thoughts, and daily dealings in this world. May we all feel safe enough to break in the presence love.

-Teddy the Brave