Coming Home to Love
“I stepped away to disconnect - and in doing so, I reconnected with what matters most: love, presence, people, and the little things (like how your pets look at you when you get home).”
Before we jump into this week’s musing, I want to acknowledge it’s coming to you a day later than usual. I just returned from a nourishing week in Saugatuck, Michigan - a place that’s felt like home for my husband Jon and I since 2010. There’s something about Michigan...the water, the trees, the stillness that brings me back to myself. Maybe it’s the memory of summers with my grandparents, maybe it’s the slow pace, or maybe it’s just that I’m with my person and my pup. Whatever it is, it feels like pure bliss.
Yes, I’ve got a little post-vacation brain fog. But I also feel deeply rooted and re-energized, like I’m carrying a different kind of energy into this next season. I’m calling this season Hope.
This week’s musing took a little while to take shape. I felt pulled in a few directions, but what kept tugging at my heart was this feeling I’ve been sitting with, and maybe you can relate.
It’s that overwhelming, almost tearful feeling of:
“This is my life. These are my people. How did I get so lucky?”
I’ve been experiencing that a lot lately - in my body, in my voice, my writing and in my relationships. It’s a feeling that’s been growing over the last year, and I believe it’s love. Pure, unfiltered love. It all started with learning how to love myself.
Because when I started seeing myself the way I believe God sees me - without judgment, without conditions - I began to see others that way too.
“It all started when I learned to love myself.”
I feel it when I look at my husband and we belly laugh like kids.
I feel it when I sit with my 94-year-young grandma and my mom during our monthly visits.
I feel it in the growing bond with my mother-in-law. I feel it in the friendships that have become my chosen family.
I felt it hosting my uncle and his husband for dinner in Michigan.
I felt it this morning at my local church food bank, simply saying hello and seeing people as they are.
I feel it every time I look at my pets and wonder how I got so lucky to be their mom.
It’s a love so full and deep it sometimes brings me to my knees - not in sadness, but in sheer awe.
Over the last year, coaching and holding space for others has cracked me open in the best way. It’s shown me how much love I have to give and how powerful it is to help someone feel seen, to remind them they’re not alone.
Plus, with the release of my children’s book, I’ve felt an outpouring of encouragement, kindness, and celebration. I don’t quite have words for how grateful I am, but if you’ve reached out, supported, or just felt with me… thank you.
Let’s Ground in Love Together
Before you go, here’s a simple 90-second practice to help you return to love - the kind that starts within, and radiates outward.
Grounding Practice: Coming Home to Love
Get comfy
Close your eyes (if that feels okay), placing one hand on your heart and one on your belly
Breathe in for 4 counts, out for 6 or just follow your natural rhythm
Visualize space around your heart. Let it expand with every inhale
Inhale love, peace, gratitude
Exhale slowly, letting go of one thought or feeling that no longer serves you
Inhale once again and this time, bring to mind one thing you're proud of let it fill every cell of your body.
Let it remind you: You are love. You are light.
A Quote to Carry With You
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves.”
A Bible Verse for the Heart
“We love because He first loved us.”
May this be a gentle reminder that love the kind that starts within and overflows outward is always available to you.
You're not alone, you're not behind, and you are deeply, deeply loved.
Until next time…
With so much love & appreciation,
Angie
