Lent 2013 Photos - Day 09 - Love

Love is ultimately about connection. It's about being connected to others in deep and intertwined ways. It's not something that happens immediately but instead grows deeply over time. There are two pictures that I have that represent this. One, a collection of hands (mine and my children) - a mess of fingers - but a beautiful mess that has grown together over time. The second comes from the Angkor Wat temple area in Cambodia, where I visited about 18 months ago. Here the trees have grown through, around, over, and within the temple over hundreds of years - they can no longer be separated without destroying both.

This is the idea I get when I think of love in its deepest form.  Its the love that we can have for one another.  Its the love that we can receive from God and seek to share with God.

Its a love that I have seen many times over in couples who have been married for decades and decades.  I remember one couple in particular - one of whom was fighting cancer.  Many times I would see them in the hospital and see their hands held together while one was in the bed and the other sat in a nearby chair.  One hand also hooked up to IVs and other medical equipment held tightly by the one who promised to love in all times of live.  Lives intertwined in love.