“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.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
When I read this as a child, I used to wonder how I’d ever be able to give someone else a love like that, whether in friendship or a romantic and spiritual relationship. How could I learn to control my sinful tendencies (i.e., jealousy, anger, selfishness, impatience, etc.) and experience love as God intended? And, if I were to encounter such a love, shouldn’t suppressing these emotions come without effort? Shouldn’t they be a part of the purest love?
Now, I read this verse and see these qualities in the relationships I hold closest to my heart. They aren’t perfect, but I am getting better at giving and receiving the love modeled in 1 Corinthians.
There are days when I believe love is all I could ever need, when I look at the people around me and feel in my heart that their presence, their influence, could become my beating heart. There are days when I feel so FULL that the world falls away and I see with my own eyes the truth and honesty of the relationships I am blessed with.
But there are also days when I feel like love could never be enough to keep me full forever. Because we’re too vulnerable and the world is too cold and there’s so much hurt and it’s all just one big unfixable mess.
But I guess that’s where I remember that love never fails. And I try to experience this truth a little more everyday…because believing any differently takes the life out of it all.
