So, I'm sipping on my coffee and a story comes on about a brother and sister who are twins. The little girl was overweight and had some developmental issues. She was getting bullied at school and her mom didn't realize the magnitude of the situation. Her brother did though. Their mom asked them to write letters to Santa early and to let him know what they wanted for Christmas. That brother wrote that he wanted Santa to help the kids at school to stop bulling his sister. He didn't want any gifts for himself, just her. He also wanted Santa to arrange for his sister's favorite boy band to sing at "her" birthday party. The mom had to sneak a peak to see what her children wanted for Christmas. She was brought to tears reading her son's letter. She had no idea that things had gotten that bad. Because of the that letter she was able to intervene and get her daughter some help at school. The letter also went viral on the Internet and you guessed the band came and played a special concert just for her. Love cares more for others than for self!
The second story was about Robin Roberts. Today was her "1 year birthday". She had a bone transplant 1 year ago today. She talked about all the kindness and love she felt from all who followed her story. The kindness and love from others played a huge role in her recovery. She also shared this thought: Don't say one day, but say today is day one. That can be meant for just about anything we(I) procrastinate about. Love never gives up!
The third story was about the Author, George Saunders commencement speech to college graduates. He talked to them about his biggest regret. He was in middle school and a new girl came in one day. She was small and shy. She wore blue cat eye glasses and when she was nervous she chewed on a strand of her hair. She was often ignored and sometimes teased. Now, George himself didn't tease her but watched on as others did. He stated that he could still remember the look on her face after such an incident. " Eyes cast down, a little gut-kicked, as if, having just been reminded of her place in things she was trying, as much as possible, to disappear." Sometime he would see her alone in her yard, as if she was afraid to leave. Then one day they moved. "That was it. No tragedy, no big final hazing" "One day she was there, the next day she wasn't." "Now why do I regret that? Why forty-two years later am I still thinking about it? Relative to most of the other kids, I was actually pretty nice to her. I never said an unkind word to her. In fact, I sometimes mildly defended her. But it still bothers me. So here is something I know to be true, although a little corny, and I don't quite know what to do with it: What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness." "Those moments when another human being was there in front of me, suffering, and I responded sensibly. Reserved. Mildly." "Or to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?" "Those who were kind to you, I bet." Love is kind!
After hearing these stories, God whispered in my ear, "Love is patient, love is kind." I have been struggling with this lately. That verse has actually come to mind a lot lately. I think I have pushed it aside as if to say, God, I know, I know!" I think we can all think of people who have come in and out of our lives, that maybe it hasn't been easy to love and be kind to. They may constantly complain about everything under the sun. How about that person with a negative attitude and they think they know everything. They are not easy to love either. There is also the person who continues to make bad choices in their lives. It's hard not to say, "didn't you learn that was a bad choice the first time?" Being loving and kind isn't always easy. God then told me I needed to write this down. Maybe as a reminder to myself. As you can tell, I am not a writer. There are probably more grammatical errors than I realize! Maybe someone else needs to hear this too. Then he brought to my mind. I Corinthians chapter 13. The "Love is " passage. This time I chose to read it from The Message translation and God truly made it clear.
The Way of Love
1If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Lord, thank you for loving me even when I don't act as I should. Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for the gentle reminders that no one is perfect and I need to love them no matter how they act. Help me to be patient and to love EXTRAVAGANTLY!
Amen
