There are many people in our community who are hurting right now. And while we know that death is one of life’s only certainties, its suddenness carries a pain all its own — a sharp, breathless kind that no amount of knowing can prepare you for.
A dear friend of mine, a longtime man of the Gospel, said something to me earlier this week that stopped me in my tracks. Simple words, but they landed deep:
“Love always ends in pain.”
Sit with that for a moment. It may sound harsh at first — maybe even cruel. But turn it over slowly, and you’ll find something tender at its center. Because the pain is not the point. The love is. And what a gift it is, to have loved so fully that its absence leaves a mark.
Love comes to us in so many forms — in the arms of a parent, the loyalty of a friend, the steadiness of a lifelong companion. In the laughter of our children, the comfort of a pet, even in the work we feel called to do. Each one a thread woven into who we are. Each one, when it ends, leaving us changed.
Our Lord and Savior felt the pain of love too. He wept. He grieved. He understands our anguish — the desperate wish that we could have done something, said something, changed something. The relentless why that echoes in the quiet. But even if we had that answer, what would it give us? In most cases, there is nothing more we could have done. We are human, and our reach has limits.
So what do we do with that?
We love. We keep loving.
Love like it is the one thing that cannot be negotiated away. Treat people the way you wish to be treated — even when it is hard. Even when they have wronged you, or wounded someone you care for. That kind of love is not easy. Sometimes, honestly, it feels impossible. But when you can find it, even in small measure, it will make your life richer and your spirit lighter.
Love like there is no tomorrow — because none of us are promised one. Tell the people who matter to you that they matter. Don’t leave them to assume what they should know for certain. That knowledge — you are loved — is one of the most precious gifts one person can give another. Don’t let it go unsaid.
And above all, make things right between you and your Maker. We do not know when our hour is finished. But we can choose, today, how we live until it is.
Love. Just love.
