this simple
It founded the earth and will last infinitely.
Like the Word, Love never had a beginning. It just was.
Love will go on with the world as a blip behind it.
To do with our conversation about Simplicity (see last post), the more I meditate on it, the more I understand the kingdom to be one reigned by a consumingly generous Dictator, one whose infinite provision pours from an infinite love. In the kingdom, the Righteous are the ones who stand before Him acknowledging His love (His Rightness), the ones who live to work out His love.
So I came here today to tell you that I won’t be writing for a while. I have to pack and move and figure out simplicity and the kingdom and how to have a good yard sale. But I change my mind. I’m going to be here now and again, at random. For my blogging Spring Break, I’m shirking any expectations I’ve made for myself here at least until mid-May.
I know that seeking God’s righteousness is freedom, and so it’s been good for me to feel free from this blog – to enter this space only in freedom.
Have you really read 1 Corinthians 13 in a while?
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love 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. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When 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 childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor 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.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Paul writes it so breezily and with such authority. Your work isn’t doodly squat without love.
I examine myself, convicted. So much of my heart has been wasted in self-seeking envy and pride. I’ve wasted so much on entitled frustrations.
How do you feel about love? Can I ask that? We know it’s what the world needs now, but really, honestly, what’s it to you? What is LOVE, and what is it not, in modern terms?
It may be too big a questions to ask, but I’m starting to think we’re nothing if we don’t ask it.
- April 16, 2009
- 16 Comments
- 0
- Love
Amber
April 16, 2009Do we live like Tina Turner is right?
Emily M
April 16, 2009Love is seeking the best for someone else, even if it requires sacrifice in order to give it to them. Love is showing up for someone, day after day, whether you feel like it or not, whether they feel like having you there or not, because you said you would. Love is admitting when you're wrong, offering forgiveness when someone else wrongs you, and being gracious no matter which side of the equation you happen to be on in that particular moment. Love is knowing above all that "it's not about me" and finding release in that knowledge.
I will miss you while you take your break, but I understand why you need to take it. God's peace to you and your sweet family.
Stephen
April 16, 2009Love is listening.
Stephen’s last blog post..This Story Writes Itself
John
April 16, 2009Love is the extent to which you put another before you. The extent to which you love is the extent to which you put another before yourself.
Seth
April 16, 2009I comment so that there will be 3 guys commenting in a row.
More on love later.
Seth’s last blog post..Mother Letter Update
Kelly
April 16, 2009wow. chewing on this myself today...
Kelly’s last blog post..I don't want to live -- I want to love first, and live incidentally.
Jessica
April 16, 2009I chewed on this for a while, but my minds eyes kept bringing me to Calvary.It is only when I do that can I really encompass LOVE.
melissa
April 16, 2009i struggle with love. loving others. it's something i'm thinking about a lot lately, how i fail at it.
melissa’s last blog post..Picking the sweet ones
BlueCastle
April 16, 2009Just when I think I'm finally conquering the evil that is self, I come to a blinding realization that I have so far to go. I look at my husband and know that even in the most important relationship of my life, I still do not show love the way I am supposed to. I need to memorize this chapter again and continue to work on showing true love. Thank you for the reminder.
God bless you as you move and find simplicity. :)
BlueCastle’s last blog post..Mom Humor
Jo@Mylestones
April 16, 2009As for what love is, in modern terms, in how it's dispersed in human form, I don't think I could answer better than what Emily M offered. She nailed it.
As for what Love is, capital L, I have to admit that I've been slow to believe that God is Love. I've been quick to call Him perfect in the way of holiness, but have struggled to see Him as perfect in Love. I know the two (perfect love, perfect holiness) overlap in every way, but I kept separating them in my heart with doubts of whether a God so holy, so just, so powerful could be so personal, so loving, so engaged with mankind. I'm learning (and this is a long process) through the relationship with my own children that God is indeed Love. I'm learning to see Him as a Father, and not just as a Ruler, Creator. And when I think of Him as my Father, I find myself believing again, like a little child.
Jo@Mylestones’s last blog post..The Way They See It
Blessed
April 17, 2009A wise old man in our church who married young and had seven children, one of them with a severe disability who lived to be in her early 20's - about 20 years longer than the doctors thought possible and who lost his wife of over 50 years a few years ago always says that love is when you care more about another person - what they want, what they feel, what they need - than you do about yourself. I've always thought that was a pretty accurate and concise definition of what "love" truly is.
Blessed’s last blog post..Marketing I Like!
angela
April 17, 2009all i ever want to write about is love.
have a good break.
i'll miss you.
angela’s last blog post..It's Spring
Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect
April 17, 2009Amber, I will miss you and your words while you're on break, but I pray it's a good one for you.
Love is hard work. But in the end, it's the only thing worth working for.
Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect’s last blog post..I don’t really need help analyzing this dream.
Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting
April 17, 2009Love is feeling your heart swell and break and swell again upon seeing your child conquer another milestone. It's the tingles you feel when your husband brushes up against you. It's even cleaning off the table, or sweeping the mess off the floor so your youngest can belly-crawl safely and not choke on a stray piece of cereal. It's snuggling on a rainy, thundering day like today, putting everything aside to hear your toddler crunching on a breadstick, while your youngest sleeps, and joining your children in a game of Uno or Mario Kart, and laughing together like you've never laughed before.
It is selflessness, yet smothering yourself in constant selfishness by keeping them as close as you can for as long as you can, for time is short, and it waits for no one.
I wish I lived closer to help with the yard sale and packing, if nothing else, to cook, share a meal, and laugh like we were born to laugh with each other.
I'll miss you, friend.
Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting’s last blog post..Making a Military House a Home with Plants
Minnesotamom
April 18, 2009I always think of love as wanting the best for someone even if it hurts you.
You will be missed, and I will savor the occasionals.
Minnesotamom’s last blog post..I Could Scream!
Hallie
April 18, 2009Transparency. A thoughtful, moving blog entry that I think you'll like.
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/04/transparency.html
Your pal, Hal.