Marisa Donnelly

If you’re not going to believe—in me, in us—then you’re wasting your time.

Love is thousands of tiny moments—exhausting, frustrating, wonderful, and inconsequential—that build a connection that’s beyond temporary.

We are like stars—there’s a chance we might burn out. There’s a chance the universe knows our destiny, knows we’re meant to fade before the light years even reach us.

What if we forget what it’s like to feel the softness of one another’s lips, the taste of one another’s love on our tongues?

Forget
all the doubt that’s kept you up at night
because doubt is the conscience’s defense
and your life
is worth going to battle for.

God, you are light, you are goodness, you are love—and you are within me.

I’m still trying to figure out a way to soften my edges without losing my sharp. Still trying to slow the hell down without losing my ferocity.

Unfollow negative feeds.

Maybe plants are just one giant metaphor for the way this world works. Sometimes we have to fall down to learn how to get back up again. Sometimes we have to lose what we’ve held dear in order to chase what’s of value. Sometimes we have to say goodbye because everything is impermanent, we ourselves are impermanent, and goodbyes are healthy sometimes.

Give me yourself so that I can love every part of you, so that I can stand beside you when the storms come, so that we can make meaning of this life, even when it hurts.

Only when be really get vulnerable do we find that we’re not alone, that others are struggling, too.

So maybe this is what it’s like to know something is real—because whatever’s in front of you no longer compares.