"1 Corinthians 13:4-8New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end."
(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13%3A4-8&version=NRSVCE)
I had an ah ha moment the other day. You've probably already had this epiphany, but I'll write about it anyway...just in case. I was watching "A Walk to Remember" last week on TV...remember that movie with Mandy Moore and Shane West where two unlikely teens fall in love and teach one another some of life's most important lessons? I'm a sucker for those kinds of movies and will sit mesmerized (and tearing up). This time, though, I realized something that I had never thought of before. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It is a series of verses that many are familiar with. It is a very popular reading at weddings--it was read at our wedding. Its description of love helps set guidelines that a husband and wife can use as they build their family and life together. I've only ever thought of romantic relationships with this passage from the Bible but it applies for so much more. (my ah ha moment!)
As a mother it helps me keep my patience with children who are tired and cranky. As a coworker it helps me put away the irritation I'm feeling in the moment to listen to the concerns of another and work through it together in a positive way. As a friend it helps me to be truly happy for someone who is getting an opportunity I wish I had (even if that opportunity is a date night and a babysitter!). As a human being it helps me to keep myself in check when I want to think "well, he had that coming to him."
Every relationship "hat" provides a different perspective and different lenses to read and understand these words. That is something I had never noticed before. This is a road map to interacting with the world with love. It is the answer to WWJD?! I can't tell you how many times I have listened to and read these words and had never seen these things. Realizing this has changed the way I think and my attitude over the past week. I'd like to challenge you to take a few minutes to reflect on all the "hats" you wear in your day to day life. Try reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 with each "hat" in mind and see how it changes you :)
