Love Is In The Little

I sip and soak in a minute before the day takes over; he snuggles in, not yet ready to launch into his typical chatterbox form. Today was no different. He climbed into my arms just before I finished my cup. I stroked his hair and rubbed his back while thinking...

Love is forged in these little moments.

Sure, love can knock our socks right off in the big. The weddings, the birthdays and anniversaries, the twinkling holidays, and welcoming new births. The painful goodbyes, the losses and the aching grief. Yep, we're totally overcome and undone by the feeling of love in life's largest happenings.

But while our seams might burst from love in those big times, that's not where it begins. It's not where the love takes shape, is nurtured, and breathed into our heart.

Because that happens in the little moments.

It's the bedtime kisses and stories. The holding of a hand. The whisper of "you can do it." The smile across the room. The sharing of a secret and the trust that it's safe. The laughter in the kitchen while telling stories and cooking dinner. The bubble beard in the bathtub. The song singing in the car. The silent embrace during a heartache. The "I'm sorry's" and forgiveness after an argument or a let down. The foot rub during a favorite show. The 'You wash, I'll dry." The chicken soup and caretaking in sickness. The grace at the dinner table. The push on the swing. The eyes drifting closed as your heart takes in the shape beside you. It's the tears from a hard day and then the peace that takes hold while rocking your child.

It's in those mundane, ordinary, regular, little moments that love is being hammered out.

It's in the spaces between, in the cracks of our every day that love is being forged with our people.

The big moments are so defining, so memorable, so overwhelming... but they are simply the steam coming from a kettle we've been pouring into along the way.

Sip your coffee and rub a back, and know... love is in the little.