Love is Temporary Madness...

“Love is a temporary madness.” Saint Augustine wrote. “It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”

This quote stopped me in my tracks last year as I prepared my VANTalk—a deeply personal reflection on love, faith, and my journey toward embracing and standing with the LGBTQIA+ community.

As Pride Month begins, I’m returning to these words and sharing them again because they still ring true: real love—the kind that remains after the fire, that chooses to stay, to grow, to intertwine—is at the heart of acceptance and liberation.
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Pride is rooted in love. How will you love today?