Week of Love: Friday's Love Poem
I slept in today! Till 9 am. It was glorious.
Forget love. Let's post an ode to sleep.
Ha. Just kidding.
But seriously, I think it deserves one. Sometimes I think sleep is seriously underrated. Sleep makes patience, self-control, LOVE so much easier. We may have a list of to-do's and a dream in our heart, but these bodies are human and DO need their sleep. Getting 6-8 hours in, or recognizing burn out and sleeping in accordingly when able does not make one lazy. I think it makes one smart. Seriously, I make way better decisions well-rested than when I am not. Kind of like the principle of the axe. You want to chop down trees? Don't get right into hacking them down. Take time to sharpen your axe and you will work more efficiently with less effort. Okay that's it. I think sometime housewives get a bad rep as though we sleep in all the time and really do nothing.
Um, yeah.
Right.
So now for the love poem. It's not exactly a poem. But it is the perfect picture of Love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
I love this! I especially love it in the Message translation. In a day, the list can be a mile long of important things to accomplish: dishes, laundry, job, project, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, grocery shopping, gift, meeting, dusting, teaching... As much pressure as I may feel to accomplish these, none of them are the IMPORTANT thing... the MAIN thing. "Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly."
I like that: Love extravagantly.
Extravagant: Going beyond what is deserved or justifiable. Exceeding the bounds of reason. Of an extremely high price.
Think on that...
Forget love. Let's post an ode to sleep.
Ha. Just kidding.
But seriously, I think it deserves one. Sometimes I think sleep is seriously underrated. Sleep makes patience, self-control, LOVE so much easier. We may have a list of to-do's and a dream in our heart, but these bodies are human and DO need their sleep. Getting 6-8 hours in, or recognizing burn out and sleeping in accordingly when able does not make one lazy. I think it makes one smart. Seriously, I make way better decisions well-rested than when I am not. Kind of like the principle of the axe. You want to chop down trees? Don't get right into hacking them down. Take time to sharpen your axe and you will work more efficiently with less effort. Okay that's it. I think sometime housewives get a bad rep as though we sleep in all the time and really do nothing.
Um, yeah.
Right.
So now for the love poem. It's not exactly a poem. But it is the perfect picture of Love.
1 Corinthians 13
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
I love this! I especially love it in the Message translation. In a day, the list can be a mile long of important things to accomplish: dishes, laundry, job, project, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, grocery shopping, gift, meeting, dusting, teaching... As much pressure as I may feel to accomplish these, none of them are the IMPORTANT thing... the MAIN thing. "Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly."
I like that: Love extravagantly.
Extravagant: Going beyond what is deserved or justifiable. Exceeding the bounds of reason. Of an extremely high price.
Think on that...
And now I must go and love my family. The dishes, snot-noses, diapers, and laundry are demanding my attention. But more important than that. My kids are. And in thinking of God's extravagant love for me; I think I may try to love my family with some extravagance today. And, hey, I got extra sleep, so it might just come a little easier today!
xo