Love Is Complicated

I was watching a trailer for the new season of Black Love [OWN] and I was reacquainted with the reality that love is complicated. We keep trying to un-complicate it. We keep trying to make it fit into a neat box that is one-size fits all, but that's simply not how it works. I've been thinking a lot about this lately--about how love makes us confront who we are, daily. Love provides us a mirror that shows us everything that is beautiful and ugly about ourselves. Love is hard--loving oneself is hard; thus, loving others adds complexity to that difficulty.

I want to hold space in this year of life for the complexities of love--for the gut-turning and heart-wrenching unexpectedness of love. I want to be surprised by love--by how it can stretch you and expand the realm of what you thought was possible--emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Even amidst the disappointments that come along with loving others--because humans are imperfect--I want to embrace a grace that can accompany the way of love. I want to be ready to love.

What would that look like?

if we readied ourselves for love the way we ready ourselves for school or for our careers?

What would it look like if we took love seriously?

if we really acknowledged the complexity of love?

Would we love better?

Would our love run deeper?

Would our love spread wider?

Would we have more grace with our loved ones?

Love is Complicated.

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