Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 10, 13
When I was a child, my papa would give me a two-layered heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Mom always received the giant box and I the medium, which was perfect because my brother Greg invariably snuck into her box leaving empty spaces and finger pressed craters in unwanted marshmallow and coconut filled chocolates. Papa’s expression of love on Valentine’s Day was consistent; and even more importantly, I could always count on his love in all my life successes and challenges.
One morning when I was around eight years old, Papa tiptoed into my room with shiny coins in hand. I awoke as he drew near and he warmly smiled with a bit of surprise in his rich brown face whispering, “the tooth fairy left this under the wrong pillow.” As he placed coins on my pillowtop, he retrieved the small tooth from beneath my pillow and tiptoed out of my room dressed in his suit and tie to make hospital rounds. Love is patient; it is not irritable or resentful. On Saturdays he proudly fired up the grill and meticulously marinated and grilled meats enough to feed 20 people when we were five. I can see his handsome dark frame sporting light summer clothes, a narrow-brimmed cloth sun hat and sunglasses sitting in the summer shade with a cool beer in hand tending his bounty for his family. Love is kind; it does not envy or boast. When realizing my prognosis for impaired vision, he searched out ways to enhance that which he could not physically change. Love bears all things; it does not insist on its own way. When my grades plummeted as I adjusted to these new realities, he still celebrated me, his “Little Bit,” at Christmas with gifts and praise. Love hopes all things; believes all things. And, that first college semester when I was no longer home for Valentine’s Day, I found long-stemmed red roses at my dorm to remind me that my papa’s love is boundless. Love never ends.
Many years later when my papa sat in a wheelchair, mind and body consumed by Alzheimer’s, I sat at his feet pensively studying his hand and tracing the deep lines of his palm. A man whose eyes had long drifted and speech long ceased somehow whispered one last comforting phrase to me, “I’ll be ok.” I looked up to see my papa’s eyes clearly fixed on me. Love endures.
God loves you and has His eyes fixed on each of you. He has commanded us to love one another just as He loves us. But how do we fully take on this daunting task, knowing that God embodies love and that His love is constant and immeasurable? 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 gives us insight into the depth of the practice of love and what He seeks from us. As an adult, I now understand that the Bible verse I innocently recited as a child, “God is love,” has immense depth, and His commandment to love others as He loves us requires much of me and of each of you. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your loved ones. God bless you!
Cynthia
