lost in a daydream: This is love. →
kristenhasswagga: thelegionnight: allthis-beauty: universal-interconnectivity: jellybomb: kencamara: linhmonster: mp-photography: kleptic:
Her name is Katie Kirkpatrick , 21 yrs old.
Next to her is her fiancé, Nick, 23.
This picture was taken prior to their wedding January…
mention love and suddenly everything starts thinking,
really thinking, about who they are, what they are,
and how they are, it’s like love is a force that defines
us, constructs the sinsides of our bodies, it is the bones
and muscle and tissue and maybe love isn’t an emotion,
or a product of the media or a chemical in our bodies,
but an anima instinct, a motivation, and i don’t mean
love as in sex, i don’t mean love as in needing someone
i mean love as in wanting someone, because we need every
one and everything, we cannot choose what we need, but
with what we want, we have a choice. love is the tug on your insides
that tugs every animals insides. the drive, the motivation,
the want, the want, the want,
to just be close to someone, to wrap yourself up in their
thoughts and words and mistakes and fall asleep
i’ve been asking everyone what it means,
because i’ve been avoiding asking myself
but it just is, with or without my analyzing and poking
and prodding, it is, even if no one ever defined it, it
would still be. it is eternal. and it changes and evolves
and grows and dies, it is an animal within itself,
burrowing inside of us.
tuck it in, fall asleep.
to love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you’ve held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands, your throat filled with the silt of it. when grief sits with you, its tropical heat thickening the air, heavy as water more fit for gills than lungs; when grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, an obesity of grief, you think, How can a body withstand this? Then you hold life like a face between your palms, a plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say yes, i will take you. i will love you, again.
Write.
You were created to love and be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you’re part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters.
We live in a difficult world, a broken world. Life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you’re not alone in the places you feel stuck.
We all wake to the human condition. We wake to mystery and beauty but also to tragedy and loss. Millions of people live with problems of pain. Millions of homes are filled with questions – moments and seasons and cycles that come as thieves and aim to stay. We know that pain is very real. It is our privilege to suggest that hope is real, and that help is real.
You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption. We’re seeing it happen. We’re seeing lives change as people get the help they need. People sitting across from a counselor for the first time. People stepping into treatment. In desperate moments, people calling a suicide hotline. We know that the first step to recovery is the hardest to take. We want to say here that it’s worth it, that your life is worth fighting for, that it’s possible to. Beyond treatment, we believe that community is essential, that people need other people, that we were never meant to do life alone.
The vision is that community and hope and help would replace secrets and silence.
The vision is people putting down guns and blades and bottles.
The vision is that we can reduce the suicide rate in America and around the world.
The vision is that we would learn what it means to love our friends, and that we would love ourselves enough to get the help we need.
The vision is better endings. The vision is the restoration of broken families and broken relationships. The vision is people finding life, finding freedom, finding love. The vision is graduation, a Super Bowl, a wedding, a child, a sunrise. The vision is people becoming incredible parents, people breaking cycles, making change.
The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.
The vision is the possibility that we’re more loved than we’ll ever know.
The vision is hope, and hope is real.
You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.
Extraordinary Mind
I do not care what car you drive, where you live. If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. If your clothes are this years cutting edge. If your trust fund is unlimited. If you are A-list, B-list or never heard of you list. I only care about the words that flutter from your mind. They are the only thing you truly own. The only thing I will remember you by. I will not fall in love with your bones and skin. I will not fall in love with the places you have been. I will not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind.
