Let Us Love
As we come down from the week centered on love, maybe you are feeling tired or overwhelmed. Maybe you’re feeling content and encouraged. No matter the emotions and inner feelings, we know that now the world we live in will go back to normal. Most men will not bring home chocolate and flowers for their wives this Wednesday. Restaurants will not be completely booked for dinner every night of the week. The world will go back to average busy lives with some highlights here and there. In the midst of the world returning to normal, in our grief, we know that some things will never return to normal.
Maybe you are grieving the loss of a partner. Maybe you are grieving the loss of a friend. Maybe you are grieving the loss of a sibling or parent. No matter the loss, the grief is just as big as the love that we shared. So, following a week centered on love, I think it is important not to take real love for granted, but also not to forget how to express it. Often, at the onset of our grief, with fresh perspectives of the true frailty and gift of life, we exuberantly love people as hard as we can the best that we can. As time passes, our passion for others fades and we settle into new rhythms. Sometimes these are rhythms of sadness or bitterness or anger. Sometimes these are rhythms of unhelpful emotional bandaids. Sometimes these are new rhythms of fatigue and stress. A lot of times, these are new rhythms that we are waiting to feel like normal; like the good old days.
As we continue facing our new normals and as the world goes back to being a little less love focused, let us keep a fresh perspective on what real love is and is not. The following verses are probably familiar, but I encourage you to stop and do a few things as you read them.
Step 1: Read the verses slowly, taking in each word. Maybe even write them down.
Step 2: Replace love and each reference of it with your name. Re-write it.
Step 3: Read the verse again and underline all the parts that are NOT true of you being loving.
Step 4: Pray for God to help grow you in your weakness.
“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
We know as well as anyone else that the world needs more love. We never know who around us is grieving and we never know how one small act of love can make an impact. This week, let us find joy in being patient, kind, and rejoicing in the truth as we endure our grief and encourage others along the way!
