Deepening our Christianity

the Monday Newsletter of Paul Prins

Edition #27 · 19 February 2024

Blessings Reader,

Choose to Love

Love is many things. Each one of us knows many kinds of love. Each is love, and each is deeply meaningful. We might say that we love a favorite book, film, or TV show. We might also say that we love our friends or family members. Those of us who are married, hopefully, say that we love our spouse.

It is immense the ways and depths we experience love. Rather than making this word unhelpful, I believe it encompasses a sense of longing and desire. That which we love, we long to be with. There is a sense of reciprocal knowing in love. We are so often enmeshed in this emotive longing that we forget that, at its core, love is a choice.

We choose to love. Every time. Often, we love for so long that it begins to feel normal. It begins to be our default state. We begin to forget that love is the exception. Of all the things that exist and that I know, I love almost nothing. Love is a gift. A gift that we give and receive. It is a choice to give. A choice that we wake up to make afresh each day, in every conversation, and every time together.

God loves me. In every moment, God chooses to love me. There is no mandate written into the fabric of creation that demands or assumes love. It is a choice, made out of joy. A choice that expresses a divine and perfection of love. Love that is patient, kind, gentle, and so much more. Each of those attributes of love is a choice. A way we can choose to love. A way we can choose to grow into lovers. Loving in a way that more closely mirrors the way God loves each one of us.

Until Next Week

Posted since the last Edition

Between Church Podcast

The host of the Between Church podcast invited me to share about Urban Monastics a few weeks ago. The episode came out this past week and has been received very well!

Listen to the Episode

Unpublished Photo for this Edition

I woke up early on Thursday, unable to get back to sleep. Three hours later, the bakeries opened, and I ventured out to get croissants. It was fun watching the city wake up when I normally still have hours of sleep left.
**Captured:** 15 Feburary 2024

Curated Goods just for You

Sharing what I've come across from around the internet that may encourage or help you.

debunking the conquest narrative ~10 Minutes
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg takes a deep dive into the conquest narative in Joshua. She engages with archology, and more as she wrestles with this text, and how it has been used through history.

A Prayer for the Week to Come

Eternal God and source of love, envelop me in your love. Help me believe that today you have chosen to love me. You see and know all of me, and you choose to love me. Give me a home in your arms. Help me sink deeply into you today.