Where is LOVE?

I had an epiphany a while back. I tried again and again to blog it for you, but it kept coming out more like “blah material" than “blog material”. Obviously, there are greater depths to ponder on my recent revelation, but I will say this, it had to do with LOVE.

Perhaps it had to do with LOVE because in a few short weeks, we’ll be celebrating our 20th Wedding Anniversary. (You may applaud) My beloved children daily remind me I am LOVED and are, in my opinion, really quite easy to LOVE. (You may agree with me)
Or perhaps, because here in a new community I am looking for LOVE, friendship, community, fellowship. (You may pray for me) There are thousands of songs written about LOVE and one even says, “Looking for LOVE in all the wrong places....” Isn’t that depressing? But isn’t it true?

Oliver Twist sang, "Where is love? Does it fall from skies above?
Is it underneath the willow tree that I've been dreaming of?"

So where or what is LOVE? To scratch the surface of what love is I was journaling from 1 Corinthians 13... Love is patient, Love is kind, etc. And in doing that I wrote contrasting statements about what love is not. Love is not in a rush. Love is not in a hurry. Love doesn’t roll its eyes waiting for an answer. Love doesn’t make demands. My list goes on and on.

On the backdrop of this personal processing I couldn’t help but to be convicted. How loving am I? How loving is my family? How loving are the friends I choose and the church I choose? Does LOVE permeate my life? Jesus Christ said in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Do I act like a disciple of a living and loving God?

I can’t help but to think that in all these years, I really don’t know how to LOVE very well. I have very loving parents, by the way. I have some of the best best bestest friends in the whole wide world! (You know who you are!) My friends model the best love I’ve ever seen. Then of course, there’s that amazing man I’m married to who should teach classes on how to love a wife. He is an expert at LOVE.

But then there’s Me. I go looking for LOVE in all the wrong places and have to be reminded that “God Is Love” (1 John 4:8) and that “ If I speak with tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13) I can spin my wheels doing all sort of things, but without Loving the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind, my efforts are worthless in God’s economy.

Below are some of my insights from 1 Corinthians 13 about Love. If you want to try this spiritual exercise perhaps don’t read my unscholarly attempts at interpreting scripture. For those who might be interested, read on.

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If I teach with the inspiration and wisdom of Aristotle and Augustine, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal and probably self-righteous. 2 If I have the gifts of cooking and cleaning and meeting all my family needs, and if I train my children to move mountains of toys into organized and labeled bins, but have not love, I am no one anyone would want to be around. 3 If I give all my time and energy to my family, my house and my dog, and to listening to my husband tell about his day and to the phone tree at church and the school fundraiser and the homemade banana bread to the poor widow next door and surrender my body to morning workouts so I don’t fall asleep during the day, but have not love, I gain nothing but mind numbing burn-out.

4 Love is patient, and is never in a hurry. It listens well and doesn’t roll its eyes. It suffers long, waiting for the heart of the matter to reveal itself. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t prod. It doesn’t demand. Love is kind and believes the best about people. It doesn’t snap or say hurtful things, but is always seasoning its words with honey. It does not envy and wish it were something else or more like something else. It is content. Love accepts things the way they are. It does not boast or think itself better. It is not proud or even aware of its humility. 5 It is not rude but is always gracious and polite. Love has good manners. It is not self-seeking, for love exists for its own sake and doesn’t depend on response or reaction. Love is not co-dependent. Love is not easily angered but is understanding. Love keeps no record of wrongs, never holds a grudge and doesn’t make lists. 6 Love does not delight in evil, doesn’t think humor at someone else’s expense is funny but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love always protects, acting as steward over the hearts its been entrusted. Love always trusts, believing that good will triumph. Love always hopes for God’s will to be done and it always perseveres, hanging in there when the going is really tough and there seems to be no light and no way out.

8 True Love never fails because the need to receive true love and give true love is why we were made.