Dear Hearts of A2U2,

I thought of you on Valentine’s Day; I thought of everyone I care about. And, as I do every year, I wondered how everyone who wishes they felt more love in their lives felt. There isn’t anyone reading this who hasn’t felt profound longing for love at some point. Maybe it’s I miss you love or maybe it’s I hope I find you love. Perhaps it’s even, I wish I could love myself.

Sometimes the feeling is short-lived, and sometimes it might be more of a longing that follows us like a shadow — stretching and shrinking depending on where the light is in our lives at that moment.

We can take comfort in knowing that love is sneaky and opportunistic; It will slip in through drafty windows of our wandering thoughts. It will layer itself little by little onto the breaks in our heart. It will bind itself to the ordinary — on a held door, in a thank you, and in a smile from a child. It will wink and run off to surprise us in new ways, so you don’t catch on. Love loves to surprise us. When it can make us gasp, we will draw it deeper into our being.

I hope you and your shadow are drawn into the breath of love by the breadth of love.

In Love and Faith,
Emily