from believing to loving

Not to believe, but to love. 

The beauty of brevity. 

All the stages belong. 

Believing is not the same thing as loving. The greatest command is not to believe, it is to love. To love our God and to love our neighbors. We know what love is. Love is a verb: to value, to care, to commit, to give attention, to give presence, and to serve. To those in need, it doesn’t matter what those around them “believe.” What matters is being valued and loved. What matters is the human connection and the spiritual connection with God. I’ve always been cautious of people who have all the answers. I’m much more at ease with those who question and wrestle and do the work of living as they seek to live a life of purpose and meaning. Those who seek to connect WITH us and not just preach AT us. Belief is just a hazy shadow of the real thing. The REAL thing is love. 

The Elements of Style is a writing reference book filled with practical wisdom. Over the years, I’ve read and reread this classic, taking notes and applying the lessons the best I can with the skills I currently possess. In one journal, I wrote, “There is value and beauty in brevity.” This is valuable advice. This is why our notes are so powerful. It is satisfying to put a deep thought into a brief, yet robust and nuanced statement.  

This morning, I was thinking about my growth as a writer. I’ve been on this road for some time, but am fully aware of the great distance I have yet to travel. And that is okay. As I was thinking about my personal growth, I was thinking about the tennis players I coach. The broad range of their skill levels. Each of them is exactly where they belong. Beginners are doing the best they can, as do the novices, the intermediates, the advanced, and the experts. They each are exactly where they belong on the trajectory. I also thought of the garden I’ve been tending to this spring. The seeds I started have begun to grow. Slowly. And over time, they will continue to grow and develop at the rate they are meant to grow and develop. We can’t expect fruit in a week or a month. Sometimes it takes a few years before the plants or trees will bear fruit. And that is okay. They are perfectly where they are in all their stages of growth. All the stages matter, and all the stages belong.  

I don’t believe in my garden; I love my garden. I don’t believe in my athletes; I love my athletes. I don’t believe in my writing practice; I love my writing practice. And though I may not have the brevity now, I am working toward it. Though I may sometimes believe more than I love right now, I am working toward loving more than I believe. And though I often lack patience I need to appreciate the slow growth of life now, I am building my patience over time so I may move from seed to fruit, from beginner to expert, from believing to loving in this, the brevity of life.