There is a story I have carried with me for a long time.

The physician Richard Selzer wrote about standing at the bedside of a young woman after surgery. To remove a tumor from her cheek, he had to cut a small nerve. Her mouth would be twisted from that day forward. Her husband was in the room.

Selzer watched them together in the lamplight — the way they looked at each other, the way they touched. And then the young woman asked the question that was really the only question: Will my mouth always be like this?

Yes, Selzer told her. The nerve was cut.

Her husband smiled. "I like it," he said. "Kind of cute."

And then he bent down and kissed her. And Selzer noticed — he was close enough to see — that the young man twisted his own lips to meet hers. To show her that their kiss still worked.

I don't know a better picture of what love actually looks like.

Not love as sentiment. Not love as feeling. But love as a choice to bend toward another person — whatever it costs — and say: I'm not going anywhere.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus gathered with his closest friends. He knew what was coming. And what did he do? He got down on his knees and washed their feet. He took the bread and broke it. He took the cup and poured it. He said: This is my body, given for you.

This is what love looks like. This love is not just spoken—it is lived, given, and poured out.

Later, Jesus said to them: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Not: I will be with you when you have it together. Not: I will be with you when you deserve it. Always. To the end.

This is the love at the heart of this day. A love that bends toward us — whatever it costs — and refuses to let go.

Prayer: Loving God, we thank you that we don't have to earn your love. That there is nothing in life or death that can separate us from you. We think today of those who are in really hard places — who need to know you have not forgotten them. Surround each of us with your grace. And may we know, right here and right now, that you are with us. Through Christ, who gave himself for us. Amen.

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