The power of lessons learned.

There are moments in life when love feels like the sweetest melody—lifting you higher, softening your heart, and making the world feel alive. But there are also seasons when love feels like the hardest lesson you’ll ever face. Love stretches us, refines us, and sometimes even wounds us. And yet, in the breaking, God is shaping us to see what love truly is.

Think of Michelangelo carving David. Every strike of the hammer against the marble seemed destructive, but in time, the masterpiece was revealed. Love works the same way. It chips away at pride, fear, selfishness, and insecurity until what remains is something more beautiful than we could have imagined.

Love demands courage. Courage to try again after heartbreak. Courage to forgive when bitterness feels easier. Courage to be vulnerable, even when it means opening old wounds. True love doesn’t ask us to be perfect—it asks us to be honest, patient, and willing to grow.

An old African proverb says, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” The same applies to love. When love is absent, neglected, or abused, hearts grow cold, sometimes destructive. But when love is present—real, God-given love—it restores, rebuilds, and brings warmth where there was once only frost.

So if you’re waiting, take heart. Pray for God to open your eyes, and when He does, be ready to step into the land of love with faith. If you’re hurting, remember that God is still working, even in your brokenness. And if you’ve already found the one He has designed for you, move proactively toward them—treasure them. Give them an honest chance. Forgive quickly, don’t be judgmental, and remember that we all carry something in our past we’re not proud of.

Love may test you, stretch you, and even break you. But in the end, it will always point you back to the greatest truth: God is love.

As Kahlil Gibran once wrote: “When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep… For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you. For even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning.”

Love, in all its mystery, is both God’s hardest lesson and His most beautiful gift—a call to risk, to endure, and to grow. Because through it, we catch a glimpse of His own heart.