I read this book on faith once.

Faith is a tricky subject. It’s of the intangible, which is complicated in itself. However, the author told a story of something very simple that happened a few years prior. While taking a photograph of two family members, he couldn’t get them to smile. Not just a “say cheese” smile but an authentic, genuine, joy filling smile. He then asked the subjects to look into each other’s eyes and they burst out with laughter and smiles he could have never forced.

Several days later while looking at these photographs he captured, he wondered to himself why they smiled when they looked at each other. There must be something that happens when we look into another human’s eyes. Someone who possess a heart, soul, and an intangible energy that with our current intellect, we just don’t have the capacity to understand. And within those few seconds we must feel a bit vulnerable or close. Close enough to laugh about it. Maybe it feels special, or maybe it feels awkward. But there’s a reason it feels something. Maybe there’s a certain connection that we don’t fully understand but absolutely require.

5 years ago one of my best friends left this earth unexpectedly. What’s strange about this is I don’t think any of us feel like she’s distant. In fact, her departure has allowed us to grow something in our own hearts that we all share, but don’t speak of. We don’t need to speak of it. It’s not of the physical world, but the intangible. Like a thought, an idea, or a feeling. But strong and mighty. Like lions.

When she left, it allowed us to realize that we move too fast and are surrounded by too many things that distract us. In the end, and the beginning, and the in between, love is really what builds us, moves us, and matters.

It’s almost like that feeling you get when you look into someone else’s eyes, and for some reason you burst out laughing.

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