When Love Comes Running

Not long ago, I wrote about the quiet ache of when love feels lost—those moments when God seems distant and our hearts wonder if we’re alone. My granddaughter read that piece. She told me she loved it, but gently asked if I could write a more joyful story next time.

So, for my granddaughter, I want to tell you a different story, one with a happy ending. A story that reminds us love isn’t only found again someday, but love that finds us right where we are—sometimes with a speed that takes our breath away.

Our short story is about a young woman, I’ll call her Kai, living on the other side of the world, and her mother, Mara. It’s about carrying silent tears across thousands of miles… and about love that refuses to wait, but comes running across oceans to meet us.

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A Love Story

Kai moved to Japan a year ago, brave and excited to study, work, and build a life in a place that had captured her imagination for as long as she could remember. She learned the language, navigated neon-lit streets, and found her favorite ramen shop tucked away in a narrow alley where the steam always smelled like home.

But sometimes, when the cherry blossoms began their soft snowfall each spring, Kai would pause beneath them and feel an ache she couldn’t quite name. She missed the way her mother’s laughter filled a room, the creak of the old wooden stairs, the comfort of being fully known.

Even the most beautiful places can feel empty without the people we love. Like the psalmist said: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137:1)

Back in the States, Mara missed Kai even more. She stayed busy, but every quiet moment felt too quiet. She scrolled through photos of her daughter smiling beneath Japanese lanterns and wondered:
Is she really happy? Or is she being brave so I won’t worry?

They texted as often as time zones allowed. But words on a screen can only reach so far. Both carried the same thought, unspoken: I don’t want to burden her with how much I miss her. So they smiled through tears that the other couldn’t see.

Then one day, Mara saw a photo. Kai stood under a canopy of cherry blossoms, petals falling around her like confetti from a celebration she didn’t quite feel. She smiled for the camera, but her eyes looked tired—like someone who’d been strong for too long.

Mara stared at that photo and felt something settle in her heart. I’m done waiting for her to come home. I’m going to her. She thought of the story Jesus told about the father who saw his son returning after a long absence:

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

Mara made calls, shifted money around, and booked a ticket. She didn’t tell Kai. She wanted the moment to be a surprise—a running embrace across oceans.

The day Mara arrived, Kai stepped out of the subway into the swirl of cherry blossoms. She was lost in thought, feeling lonelier than usual, when she looked up—and there, under a tree dusted with petals, stood her mother.

For a heartbeat, Kai just stared. The world felt suddenly hushed. Then tears filled her eyes. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

Mara opened her arms. “I thought I’d wait for you to come home. But then I realized… my heart is wherever you are.”

And Kai ran to her mother, laughing and crying all at once, as the blossoms spun around them like heaven’s own applause.

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I don’t know what you might be carrying today. Maybe you’re far from someone you love. Perhaps you’re the one standing still, wishing someone would come running toward you.

Here’s what I know: Sometimes love waits. And sometimes love comes running.

David wrote: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)

The answer is nowhere. Because the love of God doesn’t just wait—it runs. It crosses every distance, breaks through every silence, and finds you.

As the Lord says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

So wherever you are today, may you feel the cherry blossoms of Father’s grace falling gently around you, whispering, You are remembered. You are loved.

And when you lift your eyes, may you see Him running toward you—because, in Him, you are already home.

Author’s Note:
Today, as I share this story, it’s more than words on a page. My daughter is on her way, crossing oceans and continents to see her daughter, who ventured out into the world a year ago following her dream to live abroad. There was no more waiting to be where love had already called her. This piece is for them—and for you—to remember that the kind of love that runs across oceans is the same love that runs from the heart of our Father straight into ours.