in the name of love

nothing evolves us like love.

and by love I don’t just mean the kind that has you waking up with a warmer heart.

the kind that comes in bouquets of flowers and goodnight texts and butterflies in your stomach.

I don’t just mean the kind that paints a near permanent smile on your face as you envision what future you’d like to create together.

where you’re going to travel and what you’ll name your kids and what bold risks you’re willing to take by their side.

by love,

I also mean the kind that walks away.

the kind that has you gasping for air as you awaken with the heaviest weight upon your chest.

the kind that leaves you feeling bitter and confused and even regretful.

the kind that in the blink of an eye, dissolves the predicted path laid out before your imagination and finds you forlorn and aching as it takes every atom of grit inside of you to not give up on life.

for this is the love that is ever-present in both the beginnings and the endings,

the rise and the fall,

as love is the under current of it all.

It underpins everything we experience as humans crawling, dancing, and stumbling our way back to the heart.

some seasons it fertilizes us,

while in others it prunes us.

some chapters it gushes in from all directions,

while others ignite the fountain of love within you.

nothing evolves us like love.

after all, it is the solitary reason you are here.

all of it,

for love, in the name of love, because of love.

all arising and returning to.

for love is the beginning, the center, the culmination, the conductor and the cessation.