🌺♾💚 I’m just noticing that this photo which means so much to me was taken at 4:44 – a call to unity (Ezekiel 1) – on 2-22. Numbers are fun and meaningful. But that’s not what I came to say.

In this world where we know evil, our brains naturally focus on the negative to promote our survival. That’s a very important tool when one is dependent on oneself for survival.

However, when one can trust God to help us survive we begin to be able to see more than just survival. And even so God is not enough. I know. I heard the gasps all around. But hear me out.

We were made for connection. In a perfect world, Adam keenly felt the absence of another. I believe that God allowed Him to feel that deep need because we were to always remember that to thrive we need each other.

Even the thought of being separate from Eve was so hard for Adam to bear that he chose to eat the fruit with her.

Connection matters. Community matters. Turning away from someone, or allowing them to struggle on their own because we think that they should do better is counter to the growth of love. For while we should feed on appreciation instead of on expectations, it is infinitely difficult to appreciate appreciation alone.