the greatest contradiction

i believe that love can happen in an instant, at very first sight. and grow slowly over time, building layer upon layer. don't believe in love at first sight? ask a new mother.

i believe that love is stronger than steel, resilient, powerful. and more delicate than the tiniest flower, fragile, requiring gentle and constant care.

i believe that love, like God, can come with trumpets & fanfare. and in the softest of whispers.

i believe that love is like a blizzard, swirling around us, swallowing us whole, blocking everything else from view. and like a pristine Winter night, still, peaceful, inducing silence born of awe at its perfection.

i believe that love defies logic. and makes perfect sense.

i believe that being loved is an amazing gift. and that it is even more amazing to be given someone to love.

i believe that love takes round-the-clock work. and yet is completely effortless.

i believe that love is unpredictable. and that we can rely on its presence.

i believe that love is as unique a miracle as every individual snowflake that has ever fallen, elusive like a sunbeam. and so ordinary that anyone may have it.

i believe that love shows its face in the last places we would ever think to look for it. and that it is everywhere we expect it to be.

i believe that we need to say the words 'i love you'. and that the action of loving someone, be it on a grand scale or the tiniest gesture, can never be overlooked, just because the words have crossed our lips.

i believe that love cannot be forced into being. and it cannot be stopped when it exists.

i believe that love has no clear cut definition, but that however we have it, it is precious.