As a young adult, I was resistant to the word "work" when it came to love and relationships. I believed if you loved someone or something that it should be easy, and if it wasn't well then maybe it wasn't really love.

Becoming a mother certainly dispelled that myth. I love my children deeply, wholly, with every essence of my being and yet that love is sometimes work. When they are little, it's the physical work of diligence, of diapers, of physical safety. It's the work of language, modeling behaviors, and of giving.

When they are older, it's the work of patience, of redirection, of listening, and honing in on the mental and emotional safety of becoming--especially through the teenage years.

My kids are mostly young adults now, love comes in deep waves of pride and gratitude. The work is now more about releasing with love, into the wild, wide world exploring and becoming. Honoring their shifts, their learning, their work. 

It is work to love people wholly. We are imperfectly...