Love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up,
Never loses faith,
Is always hopeful, and
Endures every circumstance.

I've been thinking about love lately.
And personally, I think this verse is "over-used" (is that even possible?) and often misquoted or taken out of context, so I don't like to "use" it very much. But the more I thought about love, the more this verse kept coming to my mind.

It blows my mind to think about God's love for us. I know we are made in his image, and the marriage relationship is meant to be a reflection of sorts of Christ's love relationship with His church. But honestly, how often does our human love look like this verse? Can we honestly say all of our actions are out of love? Are we always patient and kind? Are we always pleasant to be around, never irritable or keeping a record of every little thing anyone has ever done to tick us off? Are we always flexible and willing to do things in ways that are different than our own? I know I can answer all those questions for myself with
a BIG FATTY "NO"

Human love rarely looks like this verse. This verse can only 100% describe one kind of love, and that (lucky for us) is the love that our God has for us! How stinkin' incredible right?

Now, I'm not saying that humanly love sucks. Or that we shouldn't strive to look like this verse. But I know that if I put all my hope in human love, I will surely be let down. But it's interesting, because the more and more I'm let down by others' love, the more I am in awe of God's love for me. A love that will never ever ever let me down. No matter what.

Thanks for that, Jesus.
I think you're pretty cool.
Also...if you send me back to Africa soon, I promise to do my very best to show your love to some little cuties over there . Just sayin' ;)