There was a time in my life when I wasn’t sure what to do with a relationship that had grown into a comfortable, familiar place. I was, in a way, addicted to the chaos of the wild highs and devastating lows of connection.

As if a relationship wasn’t valid unless it was bounding towards love with hearts and poetry, or cascading over a cliff to a dramatic end; I couldn’t see it unless it was moving.

But most of our lives aren’t mountaintop moments. And while it is certainly true that in a lifelong relationship with anyone or anything there will be joys and sorrows, I think the real gift of love is in the middle- where we likely spend most of our lives – and learning the beauty of being present with each other there.

And I wonder how true that is in a relationship with God. That somewhere between altar calls of unbridled affirmation and unanswered prayers that fold you into great doubt, is the faith where we spend the most of our time.

That the same great God who is with you through the hills and valleys is also on the couch next to you while you surf your phone on a snowy day. As present with you in the middle as anywhere else.