This Thing Called Love - Part 2

You may have noticed that I've been referring to I Corinthians 13 a lot. The love chapter, as it is called. The obvious and primary resource regarding love in the Bible. In fact, God was nice enough to define love for us. So, this should be easy, right??

According to I Corinthians 13:4-8a, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres. Love never fails." And in verse 13b, "But the greatest of these is love." Okay, so maybe not so easy...

Love is the first, and arguably most important, fruit listed in Galatians. In I Corinthians, it is defined as "the greatest" quality. It can be overwhelming. In fact, as I started looking at this chapter preparing to write this entry, I began to wonder why I had ever even taken on this project! It seems like too much! But God would not have given us this task and told us to develop the fruits if we could not do it.

If you look at the definition of love in I Corinthians, you will notice that a lot of the other fruits are listed as a part of love. For that reason, I won't delve too deeply into each element of love's definition. We will be covering those later on when we get to those fruits. (I guess that means that, in effect, we will be working on love for the entire length of this project!) But I do want to start thinking about all of the fruits in light of love and this definition. Love as the end-game, as a sort of culmination of this project.

Let's take this love thing a little at a time. What are some ways we define love in practical terms? How do we show love or enact love in our daily lives? For today, I want to focus on acts of service. That is one way we can show love to others. By doing things for them, by becoming a servant. I think it falls under the "is not proud" or "is not self-seeking" part of the definition above.

So, you may be thinking, I am a mother, I'm already a servant! True. But love is about my spirit and attitude just as much as it is in what I do. Actually, if you look at the beginning of I Corinthians, you will see that it is the attitude that matters most of all. "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." I Cor. 13:3.

I'll be honest. I fail a lot at this. My attitude is often very selfish when I'm doing household "service" tasks. I am more often wondering why I have to do it than thinking about love and doing it with a positive attitude. I like to grumble. But grumbling is not doing my spirit, or my family, any good at all. So, I want to put specific energy into serving with love. When I do a task (laundry, cleaning, errands, cooking, etc.), I will pray specifically for the person benefitting from my act. And I will concentrate on that person's good qualities, thanking God for him or her and focusing on my love for and commitment to that person or persons.

For example, when I'm changing my toddler's diaper, I will thank God for her and pray a blessing over her. When I'm preparing dinner, I will thank God for my husband, who gets home later than he would like because he is working so hard every day to support our family and enable me to be home with our children. You get the idea. I challenge you to do the same! And come up with more ways to turn acts of service into a true expression of love, both inside and out. Share what you are doing, successes and screw-ups too. How are your efforts impacting your overall attitude and the atmosphere in your home? I would love to hear!