Love is… patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not inappropriate or selfish. Love is hopeful, faithful. Love forgives and forgets. Love never fails!
Love is a determination of will; it isn’t a tingling feeling that just overcomes you and leaves you breathless and titillated. It is a lifestyle – one that will stand the test of time when the feelings are nowhere to be found. It is a determination that will overcome hurt and not be selfish.
That’s God’s kind of love. He doesn’t think evil of us when we fail and He doesn’t keep count of the things we’ve done wrong but He looks to see what we’re doing right and always, always thinks the best of us.
One day, I heard the Lord speak so loudly in my heart that I thought others could probably hear it. I was correcting one of the kids and in my frustration found myself bringing up a past infraction; one that they had already been disciplined for. As I did, I felt the Lord say – “I don’t bring up your past. I forget all your sins and shortcomings and I only think the best of you. Don’t bring that up again because they are my kids too.” With that I meekly answered “Yes Sir.” Then I had to apologize to my child. I went on to correct what they had done wrong without making them relive their past.
” 4 This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. 5-6 Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. 7-8a Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.” I Corinthians 13:4-8
Thank you Father for forgiving and forgetting and covering me with Your love!