Love is the motivation for a verb.

[iridiscente]

1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)
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, but have not love, I gain nothing.  

These words really hit me the other day. All of these things are demonstrations of what I consider love. As a woman especially, I've tried to not rely on emotions or "'feelings'" to determine love. Instead, I have kept love under the '''verb'' category in my mind. I may not like you at the moment, but I'll still give you a meal if you're hungry. To make this more personal, in marriage there are always times when one can not rely on the feeling of love to prove that it exists. One must, instead, rely on what they know, what they see demonstrated in very real ways every day. All of these are good things, practical ways to look at life and to survive. So why did I feel so convicted with this verse? Because I have the actions down, but I totally lack the right motivation. I do things because I have to and because it's the most peaceful way to live with fellow humans, not because I love. I am doing it all, and giving so much, but my attitude cancels out any blessing I would get.

This then led me to think of how I view my relationship with God. They are very intertwined. I do everything the same way. I do them because I'm supposed to. Because I don't want to go to Hell. Because I was raised this way and it has become a habit. The tricky thing here isn't that I'm going to be punished for doing it this way, the things I am doing are GOOD things, but I will never experience the fullness, the life of Joy, the contented peace this way. I completely miss the blessing. How does such a wonderful, blessed life so quickly become drudgery? I think it is from the lack of keeping things in the right perspective. The Bible is a great place to keep that in check.

After getting over feeling sucker-punched from the first passage, I noticed that the remedy,and further explanation, quickly followed:

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.

So, if I were to rephrase my thinking, I would change it to this: Love is the motivation for a verb.

[sunlight]

* sunlight hugs dina really really tight.

I love you, and im really proud of you for posting this.  you are one amazin sis and mom! :grin: