“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
~I Corinthians 13: 4-8, NRSV
We often hear this passage quoted at weddings and celebrations of marriage. And yet that is not at all what was taking place when Paul presented this message to the people of Corinth. In the first chapter of I Corinthians, we read that there had been many quarrels among the people. They were arguing over whose baptism was better (because of who baptized them) or whose gifts were better. The people of Corinth totally missed the message of God’s Love.
Through the book, May Cause Miracles, by Gabrielle Bernstein, I have just started a 40-day practice of readings, meditations and journaling, designed to shift my thinking from one of fear and anxiety to one of peace and love. Each day presents some thoughts along with an affirmation and a meditation to practice and then reflect in my journal at the end of the day. Yesterday’s affirmation was, “Love did not create this.” The idea behind this affirmation is that any time I feel anxious or frustrated or angry or any of those negative emotions, I should remind myself that love did not create them. Epiphany!!! My A-HA! moment! (sometimes I am slow to catch on).
Love is patient . If I feel anxious and hurried and frustrated, that is NOT love. Love is kind. If I am rude and grumpy and hurtful to others, that is NOT love. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant. At the very moment that envy or bragging comes into (and often out of) my being, that is NOT love. In other words, any time I feel any of those negative emotions, I can remind myself that LOVE did not create them. And once I can recognize those thoughts and behaviors within, I have the chance to immediately say, “Love did not create these and I can choose a better way to think and behave”.
Don’t be caught up and miss the message of God’s love. We need not fear or be anxious or any of those negative things. One moment at a time, we can remind ourselves that God (Love) did not create them. We can immediately shift our thinking to a thought that comes from Love. When we come from a place of love in our thoughts and in our hearts, we can bear all things, believe all things, hope for all things, and endure all things.
It’s all that simple! Love never ends.
Just Simple Days 
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