Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-serving.
Wait...love is not self-serving? That really caught my attention. I remembered that i once heard to go back through that passage and replace every time love is said with your name. I tried that...
Rebecca is not self serving.
I proclaimed it like a banner over my life to see if it fit.
It didn't.
Ouch.
Out of all the passages in the bible, 1 Cor 13 is one of the few that i actually know by heart. I learned it in the 8th grade during my junior high obsession with a 9th grader. Rachel, who was the first mentor type person to enter my life, was 5 years older than me and i believed that she could do no wrong. She made me memorize these love verses probably hoping to inject some Godly realism into my "hopeless love" drama... and so of course i followed her every suggestion.
Somehow these words stuck in my head through all of these years and I've always loved this grouping of verses. When spoken aloud they seem to radiate a certain ethereal type of life throughout my soul. These words take me back to the First Southern Baptist Church gym in Bryant and all the drama that went along with being an 8th grade girl. These words followed me through the next several years, attaching themselves to memories and places and faces that i have known and loved and cherish. These words chase me through dry spells and mountain tops. They've called my name during heartache and disappointment, and rejoiced with me in those moments that i thought there was no way life could ever get any better. These words have been my blanket wrapping around me on cold lonely nights, moments of doubt, moments of surrender and moments of pure, unadulterated love. Because if this is the kind of love our Maker is calling us to have, then i know without a doubt that this is the kind of love that He is.
Today as i fondly read over these familiar verses and tested them to see if they've held true in my life it was that one line... love is not self serving...that sent the arrows of conviction through my heart. If i had to sum up all of my actions into one term lately, would it be love?
Sadly, i think self serving would be a more adequate word.
Thank God for wake up calls. And thank God for his grace.
He is my love.
And love never fails.
1 comment:
Wow. I need to transpose love for Amber and do a check on myself. I'm pretty sure we'll have similar convictions.
Ahh...Rachel Hinkson. Love her. You know, the first ever "lesson" Rebecca(Hoyt) and Rachel taught in our youth group was the 1Corinthians 13 transposition lesson. That's when I knew they had a special teaching gift. They were so young and yet the Bible made so much sense to them.
I don't miss a lot about my past/childhood, but I do miss having a relationship with the Hinksons. What an incredible family.
Post a Comment