Grace Is Not Google – You Can’t Just Search It, You Have to Live It
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Love was never a mood. It was a cross.
We dress love in roses and candlelight.
We call it romantic.
But romance is just smoke
if there’s no fire beneath.
Because in life,
there’s no such thing as “romantic.”
There is only true or false.
Present or absent.
Sacrifice or selfishness.
Romance can send flowers.
But only truth shows up at 2 a.m. when the tears won’t stop.
Romance can post captions.
But only truth washes your wounds in silence.
Romance can thrill.
But only truth can endure.
The Cross is not romantic.
It is raw.
It is bloody.
It is love stripped of sentiment and laid bare.
That is truth.
And every other love
must measure itself against that wood,
against those nails.
So don’t tell me it’s romantic.
Tell me it’s true.
Tell me it’s costly.
Tell me it doesn’t vanish when beauty fades.
Tell me it stays
when the flowers rot,
when the hands tremble,
when the body breaks.
Love isn’t romanticized in heaven. It’s either true enough to die for — or false enough to bury.
A poet, author, and faith writer who believes words can heal what silence hides. My poetry collections — Inked Emotions, Scattered Feelings Stitched in Ink, and Love Beyond Loss — were born out of seasons of grief, solitude, and deep reflection.
Here on Catholic365, I’ve been humbled to share reflections that have reached hundreds of readers. I write not from a place of perfection, but from a longing to make sense of love, loss, and the quiet ways God speaks into our lives.
Whether it’s a poem, a story, or a small reflection, my hope is that you feel seen, encouraged, and gently reminded that faith isn’t always loud — sometimes it’s found in the waiting, the falling, the starting again.
You can find more of my work at https://about.me/anniedcosta
