The "Love" Chapter!!!

I was driving down the road the other day, looking at all the trees that are blooming beautiful colors all around each spring. Some trees, like the Dogwood, bloom tall and white. The Magnolia tree, which I just recently learned is its name, blooms with big, beautiful pink or purple flowers. Gorgeous. My favorite one. In middle school and high school, there was a neighbor two houses down that had a Magnolia tree in his front yard. It was huge and every spring bloomed with those light pink flowers that would eventually fall off and cover his yard in pink. It was something I looked forward to each year and, to this day, still talk about how I would LOVE to have a Magnolia tree in my yard. (I'm still holding out for a Weeping Willow but Ryan doesn't like those.) Flowers have started blooming--the daffodils and tulips and these little purple flowers that I love but have no idea what they are called! After such a cold, miserable winter, the moment the sun shined in all its glory and created just a little bit of warmth, the world seemed to spring back to life in a kaleidascope of beautiful colors! Isn't it amazing that when the earth experiences just a moment of the sun and the warmth it creates that the dead dreariness of winter so instantly melts away to be replaced by the beauty of spring and it's brilliance in color splashing the landscape?

You know, what a perfect picture of what Jesus does in our lives (and can do in your life if you have yet to experience Him) when we open ourselves up to Him. He can take the most desolate, lonely, barren life and create the most beautiful, clean, purposeful life so very quickly if we simply let Him. All of us, at one point or another, whether it's now or the past or even tomorrow, have times in our lives where we appear dead; we aren't producing good things and we feel as though our purpose here has simply been to drag life out of everyone around us. But, then Jesus, the SON, shines His life and warmth into our souls, and suddenly we look like the beautiful kaleidascope of spring, splashing hope and life where it was thought none existed before. I don't know if you have experienced what God's love, because of Jesus' life and death and life again, can bring to your bare life, but it is one of the most exhilarating moments we can ever experience! No, God is not some far off Being who looks from afar playing Puppeteer to the world, He is LOVE in its intended form, reaching down into His creation to remind it that it's purpose is to bring life to a dead and broken world. Love is THAT powerful! Whether it be in changing one life at a time or revolutionizing the world, God's love is the perfect example of the power of real love in action!

We have been talking about love and looking at what real love is. We looked at love being a "verb" and not an emotion because God gave it to us as a command to love Him, ourselves and each other. Love is an action word that seeks the best interest in others and often causes us, when used correctly, to deny ourselves to make sure others lives are better. Well, if one could define the most perfect form of love, what would it be? Did you know that God has done just that in the Bible? It is one of the most beautiful chapters, not only because it describes what love looks like, but because it is something that we realize we all desperately desire to see from others in our lives. This is what Ryan read to me when he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him as a promise to try to love me as God has defined love and not the world's definition. So, let's begin a journey of looking into what is known as "the love chapter", 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)
Have you ever seen or experienced a love that encompasses all of these things? In the broken world we live in, we do see glimpses of this kind of love; however, this is the love we experience THE MOMENT we allow God into our lives!!!!


Love is patient.

What is patience? An online dictionary (www.dictionary.com) says the word "patient" means bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like. Now while that sounds good, what does that mean? The word provocation means something that irritates or angers. Annoyance is something that causes irritation. Misfortune is a distressing moment. Fortitude is the last big word used here and is mental and emotional strength when facing difficulty or danger. So, putting that definition into Engilsh, so to say, the word "patient" means enduring when something irritates, angers, distresses, puts off, is hard, hurts, etc with a mental and emotional strength and calmness without complaining, becoming angry or the like. Wow! I can think of so many things each and everyday that irritate, angers, stresses me, is hard and hurts in my life. I bet you can too. So, if I understand correctly, life provides opportunities to use patience all over the place, at any given moment, at any given time! If I'm really tired, there's definitely more annoyances and irritations too. Patience cannot be shown, however, if we do not have the mental and emotional stength to restrain our complaining and anger at every given moment.

I heard Joyce Meyer, a traveling preacher, define patience as loooooooooooooooooong suffering; suffering through whatever for as long as necessary. I know that patience is often something people pray for, but patience is like a muscle; in order to develop it, it must be used. Be careful what you pray for. God will not give the ability to be patient, but He WILL provide opportunities for us to develop the mental and emotional strength to remain calm when irritating and hard times present themselves. The more we can remain calm in irritating circumstances, the more patient we become. It is using the mental strength in the small things that allows us to use it when it feels like the world is crumbling around us--whether that be in the form of family, sickness, friends, school, work, children, emotions, etc.


Put it into practice: Develop the muscle of your patience this week. When someone says something that irritates or angers you, stay calm. When someone hurts you in some way, stay calm. When your cat eats your sock, stay calm. When your parents won't let you go out with your friends, stay calm. Life provides plenty of opportunities for us to develop the mental muscle of patience. Develop patience and you are showing love! God bless and good luck being patient!

Nikki