November 26

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If 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 do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love 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. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When 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 the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a 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.

 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I regret that I have not blogged in many weeks, and that some of my faithful followers have been missing my words.  Thank you for your encouragementJ

The path of love is not always an easy one.  But where I seem to fail, I come back to 1 Corinthians.  It is used in an almost cliché way sometimes, but everytime I hear it, I am confident that I am hearing the truth about love.

There are people that I love very much who are suffering right now, and it saddens me.  It saddens me, because I feel that the suffering is being caused in the name of, or place of, love.  If REAL FORGIVENESS (think love keeps no record of wrongs) if difficult, then imagine that REAL LOVE can be so much more difficult. 

Or is it really? There are things that have happened to me in the past that I didn’t know if I could forgive,  but as I sit here now, and time and strength have gathered…. I can truly say that I can sit in a place of total forgiveness for all wrongs of the past.  Because my commitment to LOVE is so strong, I will MAKE A DECISION to forgive.  Can it really be that simple? I think it can.  It may need to be a choice that I make time and time again, when emotion and hurt return, but I do believe it is as simple as that.  It is the choice to move on…. Not to dwell in pain and resentment… Not to live in anger and hurt… but to simply walk forward in love.  The truth is clear.  There is no room for unforgiveness in the path of love. 

Maybe that is why hateful, angry, bitter, negative people are so abrasive in our lives…. They are resounding gongs and clanging cymbals…. But in the orchestra of life, we have THE CHOICE to make our own music, and I believe, to influence others in a deeply powerful way.   

I see many unhappy every day, who are unhappy because they do not receive the love that they are looking for every day in their lives.  Here is what I have come to believe.  Love attracts love.  To be loved, we start with being loving. 

On my journey, I feel blessed that new and wonderful people are entering my life every day.  Love attracts love… and WOW there is actually a WHOLE IMMENSE WORLD OF LOVE out there taking root and flowering.  In random acts of kindness, kindly made gifts, sharing of food and laughter, giving of friendship, thinking of another before one’s self….

Every act of patience, kindness, compassion, generosity, modesty, respect, selflessness, temperament, forgiveness, joy, truth, protection, trusting, hope and perseverance toward love is an act of love itself. 

It is not length of life, but depth of life.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We can live forever…. But if we live without love…. We have not lived at all.

Aloha,

Emily