The Meaning of Love

Posted on Posted in Kay

Valentine’s Day is a time when we celebrate love.  Nothing to me really explains the meaning of love as comprehensively as the scripture from:

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing symbol. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate love and its presence in our lives. I am thankful every day that my God is a God of love; one that celebrates with me the love that I share in relationship with my husband, the love I have for my children and grandchildren, my siblings and my Mother, and the love I share with friends and those to whom I am called to minister. I am not saying that loving someone is an easy task. I believe it is challenging, especially the “patient, not jealous, endures all things” kind. I am challenged when someone hurts me, I am challenged by those who are on death row, terrorists, people I perceive as rude, those who commit crimes against others….the list goes on. I guess the part about love not brooding over injury speaks to that challenge. It is much easier to love those who love me back. If I am perfectly honest with myself, I have to admit that even those folks get on my nerves sometimes.

As Valentine’s Day approaches I thank God for the example of love that bears, believes, hopes and endures all things, the kind of love that is God. I pray that my heart will always be open to love as God loves, no matter what!