What If…Love Never Fails

A friend recently asked for my favorite Bible verse. She was putting together a 🎁gift for her daughter’s confirmation. A Pinterest project at its finest. The idea was to highlight different passages throughout the Bible and attribute them to people in her daughter’s life. How cool🎉! I wish I thought of things like that. I’m not even savvy enough on Pinterest to find ideas like that. Well done, Mom-friend!😍

She also asked my daughter to contribute her favorite verse. Angelina had a few that she considered before ultimately choosing Proverbs 16:9.

The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps.

I didn’t have to put much thought into mine. ✅I have a favorite verse, a go-to that I cling to in all situations. It helps in my 💕interactions with people. It 💪strengthens when times are tough. It allows for an 😇open mind when I encounter new and different situations.

My verse even hangs on the wall in our kitchen. It is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Even if you don’t know your Bible verses, I bet you’ve heard this:

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, 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 perseveres.

Love never fails.

I think those words can sound cliche. Too easy to say, yet tricky to pursue. Really- 💖love is patient? 💖Love is kind? 💖Love never fails? I’m a believer, though. I live my life with that focus every day. Are some days harder than others? You’re damn right!😬 Do some situations or certain people make it challenging to find the 💖love? Of course. It’s not supposed to be easy.

That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t try. Especially now when the opinions and advice about every little 🔎detail surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic are swirling everywhere we look. I’m telling you- Facebook is a minefield right now.😲 Tread carefully to save friendships because I’m seeing some strong voices out there.

We had a guest speaker several weeks ago at ⛪church who put my thoughts into words. He expressed the idea in a way that brought clarity to the idea of 💖love.

Love everyone, but don’t agree with just anyone.

Think about that for a while. 💖Love EVERYONE, but don’t agree with just ANYONE. I bet at least one person popped into your head who you love, but don’t share the same opinions.🙊 Someone you still respect while being polar opposites.🙊 Probably more than one. Am I right?

Think about that simple idea when you read a post that makes you 🙀cringe. Or someone admits to being afraid of this 🔬virus. Or someone chooses to wear a 😷mask, which is worn to protect other people- to protect YOU AND ME- in case you still aren’t sure why folks are wearing 😷masks. How about those feeling comfortable with the quarantine or those crawling the walls at 🏠home, which isn’t as easy as it seems? What about having the ability to 💰work from home? Or struggling with teaching your kids? Or hoping to regenerate a 💰business that had to close?

My journey through this 🔬pandemic may not relate to yours at all. That doesn’t mean that we can’t at least try to show some 💞empathy for one another. We’re all coming from different perspectives and our individual circumstances matter.💯

I’d like to think we all have the same goal, which is to be a part of the 💡solution rather than the problem. If you’re just spewing 🚫negativity, you’re part of the problem. Don’t. Just ❌stop. I 💖love you, but I don’t agree with that! Share information. Share facts- ✅check those sources carefully, folks. Share 🙌uplifting messages. Share your 😥frustrations. Just keep the 🚫negative stuff to yourself. It’s not helping anyone.

No one has the answer yet. No one. We’re in the middle of a 🌎global pandemic. Are the answers coming? Yep. Slowly, but surely. In the meantime, we ⏳wait. We listen to voices with 🔬knowledge. We follow the guidelines. We learn- possibly something new every day. We adapt. And, we find those places to 💖love even when we don’t agree.

Here’s a simple example of what I’m talking about. I just returned from a 👟run on the trail. There was a guy who had beautiful form while I leaned too far forward as I ran. He was probably paying attention to his breathing while I was listening to the Armchair Expert podcast pulsing through one AirPod. His 🏃pace was quicker with more deliberate steps. As he blew past me, he looked over his shoulder with a 😀smile and said, “Good job!”🌟 Did he have a judgment about my running style? Maybe. Did he show 💖love anyway? You bet!

While my pure intentions are to always lead with 💖love, I’m not going to lie. Sometimes, my first reaction is judgment.😲 And my second.😬 Maybe even my third reaction.😥The important thing is that I always find my way to 🚫love, that I always look back and say, “Good job!”

What if…💖love never fails? When we come from a place of 💖love, our actions just naturally show it. We need that more than ever now.