There are moments when God’s presence arrives not in silence or solitude, but in the gentle interruptions of love. 1 John 4 tells us, “No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit.” These words remind us that the invisible God becomes visible in the simple, human ways love reaches us.
Recently, as I settled into my prayer time and my husband wandered to his chair and sat down to share something on his heart. For a moment I felt the tug between solitude and presence, the interruption but then I recognized it: this was holy ground. His vulnerability, his desire for connection, his trust in me—these were movements of the Spirit of love drawing us closer.
Not long after, my daughter called unexpectedly, her voice full of warmth and the easy affection that only grows with time. Again, I felt it: the unmistakable nearness of God in the ordinary tenderness of her call and our conversation.
These moments remind me that the Spirit does not always come wrapped in stillness and dedicated prayer. Sometimes the Spirit comes disguised as a conversation, a need, a shared laugh, a hand reaching for ours. Whenever love rises in us—patience, gentleness, compassion, presence—we are touching something divine. We are experiencing the God who remains in us, the God whose love is being perfected in us, the God who makes Himself known through the very people entrusted to our care.
This is how we know the Spirit lives in us: when our hearts soften instead of harden, when connection feels like grace, when love becomes the doorway through which God steps into our day. In these small, sacred exchanges, we glimpse the truth John proclaims, God remains in us because love remains in us. And every time we choose to show up with tenderness, we become living signs of the God no one has ever seen, yet everyone can encounter through love.
Smitten With Goodness 