To err on the side of love is to be acquainted with pain;
It is akin to the fate of the moth – enthralled by flames
Of compassion, empathy, kindness, patience, humility.

To err on the side of love is to realize
That you do your fair share of dishing out hurt,
Angst, apathy, ire, discord, heart-break, doubt;-
Usually inadvertently, but harmful nonetheless.

To err on the side of love is to say what you mean,
And do what you say; To laugh and smile and cry and bleed,
In all honesty and propriety; To give, to appreciate,
And be considerate, seasoned in speech, light on your feet-
For the sake of the many wandering, wounded, unguarded toes;
To watch and learn, and learn to watch, and act with tact;
And to be in a committed relationship with forgiveness.

To err on the side of love has nothing to do with those ‘passions’;
Those fleeting burning flames heated seven times over; Shimmering
Explosive ‘chemistry’, uncontrolled and destructive; As transient
As a breath in a storm; As unsustainable as an ember in winter;
Devoid of conscience and responsibility; Blind and deaf – not
Seeing or hearing, only speaking enticing bewitching lies;
Accusing, misleading, deluding – promising the stars,
But delivering only dust; Burning friends and foes alike.
From the destruction these flames lay, even phoenixes deign to rise;-
For these residual embers and ashes are lifeless and cold.

To err on the side of love is to see,
That the steps taken by love always lead to the cross
A place of sacrifice, of desolation, of solitude, of distress
But also a place of life, warmth, redemption, fellowship, fulfillment;
A place of paradoxes, of grievous pain and ecstatic joy – crossroad of enigmas;
And there’s something beyond the cross, a certainty – unimaginable glory.

#May we always have the grace to err on the side of love.

#Happy Valentine’s Day.