1 Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Why do I say things I shouldn't say? It's not that I don't mean them. I do. I really, really do mean them. I just shouldn't say them. If you're like me, there are people in your life that can send you from fairly happy to both incredulous and supremely frustrated in the span of seconds (from 0 to "Oh no she didn'" with a snap in no time). There are times when I feel like I'd rather bang my head on the wall than continue to talk to certain people because it would hurt less. Been there? I think it's OK to feel that way. Then we just have to make the right choice from there. I'm called to love people. That's how the world will know that I'm a Christian. I'm not called to like people. But I am called to love them...patiently, kindly, un-rudely, un-easily angered.
Thankfully, my God is the God of second chances. It seems that the people that you truly like are easy to lose...they get new jobs, new homes, new opportunities, maybe they even die entirely too soon. And you miss them terribly. The people you don't like...stay with you forever. That just means more opportunity to get the love part right. Right?
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