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LISTEN

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”—PSALM 139:14-15 (NIV)

Reflect
Aging, I think, is a grand lesson in realizing you are certain about less and less. Instead of more answers, I end up with more questions. God, why did you make mosquitoes? Mirror mirror on the wall, how did that happen? Why do the years seem short and the minutes long? When do I start taking my own good advice—sooner? When will I ever heal? But what is becoming clearer and clearer is God’s absurd, wonderful love. God’s face is turned toward me in particular—and to you in particular—with a tenderness that melts hearts. It is a love that never ceases. It isn’t tied to us having all the right answers or right behaviors or right life. It is just a love overflowing for us all.

Respond
Make a list of everyone you love today. Take time to write a few people on that list, and mail them a letter telling them how much you love them. It can never be too soon to remind your beloveds of your love, but it can be too late.

Blessing for feeling love

It can take a while to see it,
clouded as these days often are
with a vague sense of unease,
a gradual dawning to the awareness
that what is needed most is love.

Love for the specific, particular person
you are right here, right now.
(And though it might feel vulnerable
to admit it,
aren’t we all at the center
of our own stories?

As heroes, villains, winners, losers,
or whatever fits the plot of the day?)
Let the story rewind,
back to the beginning,
to the moment eyes first opened
and, newborn, you came into this world
wholly loved.

Loved not for anything you had done,
but simply because.
Even now, when the world feels blurry,
love remains.

And that is life itself.
May you be reminded again:
how the world spins, the winds change,
the oceans churn,
and not a single fact
tells a different story than this:
you are loved.36

36 Kate Bowler. Adapted from “For Feelings God’s Love” in Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day: Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens. (New York: Convergent Books, 2024). 157.

© KateBowler.com