[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvG1iVw8IjQ&w=500&h=350] [A video for inspiration on this first Moment of Love Monday, submitted by one of our fellow tribemembers, Gigi.]

Hello, friends.

Can I take a moment to say how honored I am to share this space with you?

Your response to our first Repentance Thursday amazed me, and I was deeply moved by your willingness to practice confession with each other in this space.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for being a part of this community.

Thank you for being a community worthy of each other's trust.

As we take the first Thursday of every month to practice our personal need for repentance, we will take the following Monday of each month to celebrate moments of love.

This second monthly ritual will be known as Moment of Love Monday.

Our first experience of it is today.

As many of you already know, one foundational pillar of this website is our belief in the prevailing power of love.

We explored this idea as part of the JTN manifesto series when we acknowledged two things:

At the core, we are a community of people about the work of love.

As we go about our work together here, we are seeking to grow in our capacity to embody and express that love.

Moment of Love Monday will keep us mindful of this core belief and give us regular opportunities to share stories and learn from each other in this process.

It is a place to:

Share how we practiced love in a difficult moment the previous month.
Share how an injection of love into that moment affected the circumstances (if at all).
Share how the choice of love in that moment affected us in the aftermath (if at all).

In some ways, I view Moment of Love Mondays as a bit of a laboratory. Together, we are testing for ourselves this idea that love has the power to transform.

In other ways, I view Moment of Love Mondays as a place of true inspiration and testimony. We will see ourselves grow in love over time, and we will teach each other how love, in all its varied and creative forms, can look.

Since this is our first Moment of Love Monday, I don't expect you to have stories at the ready for sharing.

(Though if you do, feel free to share away!)

So perhaps instead . . .

Be mindful today of an opportunity to practice love.

And then, when you find that opportunity, come back here to share the story.

I'll be joining in with my story later today.

Will you join us?