Greetings!
How can literature help us learn to love better? Let’s take a look!
“Love hinders death. Love is life. All, everything that I understand. I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.” – War and Peace -Leo Tolstoy
“To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life. To love is a consummation.”
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
“Love can heal the deepest wounds.”
The Indigo Girl by Natsha Boyd
That Light can come into this world only as LOVE and LOVE can enter only by suffering.”
–A World Lost by Wendell Berry
“… but an enemy can only be loved with Divine love.” War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Hearts are everywhere as we embark in month two of 2026. We know that God is love. He loved us first giving us a blueprint on how to love Him and each other. Of course, in our finite mind this is easier said than done and we often miss the mark. Kate always says when we know better we do better. We hope you join us as we focus on LOVE and connect with books and quotes to remind and illustrate how we can love better.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 what love is and what love is NOT.
“Love is patient” connects with Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Peace Like a River: A Novel: Enger, Leif: 9780802139252: Amazon.com: Books
“Love is kind”– Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
…does not envy or boast” – David and Goliath story nails this one.
Books mentioned to help us improve on loving:
...is not arrogant or rude” connects with “Whoever hates correction is stupid.” The Truth About Us by Brandt Hanson
Does not insist on its own way – The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (not enough love)
“Real love only exists outside of our comfort zone.” Heart Talk by Cleo Wade helps us get out of our own way as does CS Lewis in The Four Loves & The Great Divorce where we learn about need love aka defective love. An example he gives is when a mother does not let her child fail and learn from the failure. He refers to this kind of overprotection as ‘smother love’.
…is not irritable or resentful”– Abigail’s husband (aka Mr. Personality- Nabal) shows us what NOT to do! Saving My Assassin by Virginia Prodan shows us what to do in the worst of situations!
does not rejoice in wrong doing but rejoices in the the truth. We found two great nuggets from Brandt Hanson’s book,
The Truth About Us where he quoted Thomas Merton. “A saint is not someone who is good, but someone who experiences the goodness of God.”
“To penetrate the truth of how utterly unimportant we are is the only thing that can get us free to enjoy true happiness.”
May these book connections inspire us to love with zeal no matter how we feel!
Fantastic Podcast to give us a weekly nudge: