Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” Ruth 1:10

We cannot manufacture compassion where no emotional connection exists. We were created to be responders—to mirror what is extended. When we are loved, we open up and love freely. But when we are spurned, our hearts retreat. When affirmation is withheld, we grow smaller and become shy. When met with stoicism, we become guarded. And when cruelty comes, everything in us wants to return it.

Naomi’s daughters-in-law wept at the thought of leaving her. She had given them their freedom, yet their hearts broke at the thought of taking it. Their tears reveal the depth of Naomi’s love. If she had been a bitter widow, there would have been no weeping—only relief.

In an ideal world, love flows naturally between parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and kindred spirits. There are tears of joy at reunions and tears of sadness at farewells. We might feel guilty when we don’t have feelings of love for certain people but in this world, love is often blocked. Some children dread returning home. Some spouses share a house but not a heart.

That’s why Jesus came to show us another kind of love—agape love. A love not rooted in feeling, but in divine will. His love reached for us while we resisted Him. He steps into our broken patterns with full understanding. He knows rejection, betrayal, and indifference. Yet He offers His heart as the remedy: “Love as I have loved you.” He gives grace to act in love long before emotion follows.

When we withhold love because we’ve been wounded, we do more than protect ourselves—we defy the cross. But when filled with His Spirit, we love anyway. It astounds those who watch when kindness meets cruelty and coldness. It won’t feel natural. It will feel like crucifixion. But God’s Spirit supplies the strength for every holy act of love.

You don’t judge me for not having feelings of love. You understand why I don’t. But You promise to supernaturally love through me. Amen