Gemma & Sam Portrait Session at Campbell's Croft Reserve

I've known Gemma & Sam for a little while, so we thought we would try something different. Here is their story:

Love is a lot of fun, but it’s also challenging. It comes with its own way of life that brings new joys & new challenges. It offers you a different perspective on the world. You get to know what grace really means. Grace is love beyond your own capabilities, a love which extends beyond yourself.

You’re not always going to feel good, and it isn’t about that. Love is acceptance of the good and the bad in both yourself and the other person.

A loving relationship is that transforming space where you can grow into who you are. You are always moving towards more of who you are because of the grace of the other person.

There’s a misconception that the marriage relationship is the fulfillment of the end goal. The purpose for this love is so that it spills over into the community. The safety of love is a beautiful space, but if that’s all it is, it becomes insular.

Part of the responsibility of experiencing love is to share it with others. Love has no end, it’s a constantly flowing river. It can be easy to find the beauty in love, but the real challenge is to go beyond the internal and seek out opportunities to offer love to other people in other places.’

There is more complexity to romantic love than to ‘agape’ love. You have to open up and push past your own comfort zones. Romantic love is a kind of exclusive love that you don’t need to share with everyone.

The call of being a Christian is to offer agape to everyone. A relationship should be the breeding ground to give this love to others.

You need to accept that you can’t be everything the other person needs

The romantic relationship is a home to come back to. It fills you with energy and life that can be shared in both safe and unsafe places.

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Captured at one of my favorite locations - Campbell's Croft Reserve in Vermont.