Lately I’ve been thinking of getting a new dog. As much as I miss having one around the house, the conversations remind me that dogs require work and tending. They usually don’t show up fully trained, and in the puppy stage there’s a lot you need to invest so that some day you can enjoy a trained, companionable pet. And even then you can’t predict what will happen, how long they’ll live.

To live without love is a horror that turns men into monsters. Gender specified intentionally. But truly loving is scary because it requires we take the longer perspective and that we set aside momentary frustrations for the health of the relationship. This investment yields so much more than it takes from us, at its best, but we also know relationships end for many reasons and can bring harm.

So today we are invited to be deliberate about where we invest our love, but still, invest. Extend yourself for someone else. Be willing to try to work things out instead of dismissing them entirely. Yet know your value and your limits. It is a dance of paradoxes.