Day 35 of the Apocalypse, Ground Zero, Gerton, NC pop. 231

Love is what is required to get through this.

Apocalyptic Love is not passive, neither is it always patient or kind. Sometimes it is a fierce warrior in battle. Or a loud voice, raging. It is a mother bird, protecting her nest.

This Love is giving voice to every person who has lost their home and is being denied coverage by their insurance companies.

This Love is a funeral procession for a person whose body is still missing.

This Love is questioning our President, who did not enact his Executive privilege to bring Congress back into session, in order to help the thousands of businesses that have lost everything in the wake of Helene.

This Love is ignoring the red tape, and getting in there and building the road anyway, at your own cost, like miners from West Virginia did last week here in the Hickory Nut Gorge.

This Love is celebrating each small moment of possibility.

This Love is showing up, even when you are too tired, and have nothing left to give, because your neighbor needs help.

This Love is new life-long friendships across political lines.

This Love is burrowing under your covers late into the morning because today you just can’t.

This Love is speaking truth to someone else, even when it makes them uncomfortable because this brave new world trumps political correctness.

This Love is doing what you need to, to care for yourself and those around you.

Apocalyptic Love is not always patient and kind. It is an advocating Love, a truthful Love, and a Love that challenges us to find new ways of operating.