{Be Confident} Love is Patient

Love is patient.

 

I’ve heard this a million and one times in my lifetime, good ol’ 1 Corinthians 13. I remember being 8 years old, sitting in my childhood home in Mississippi, coming up with a melody to help memorize the verse so that I could recite it at school the next day. I still know it by heart, and have a calligraphy print of it hanging on my wall. Does that mean that I daily stop and consider what it means? Do I read it and let its truth sink in? Does it change the way I behave in a frustrating situation?

 

If I’m being honest, no. Not always.

 

Just being completely real, I can think of about four different ways just this morning that I have already been impatient. I couldn’t find the shirt I was looking for to wear to church, so I went about frantically throwing my clothes all over the room in order to find it. When I finally found the shirt and made it to church, I got behind a slow-walking person on the way in. Oh you know the kind…they kind of poke along and weave back and forth. So you do this awkward side-to-side dance for a while to try and pass them, until you realize it’s just not happening. And then after church, the laundry was taking too long to finish, and I was ready to go get coffee. And when I did finally made it to the coffee shop, the barista lost my order. Sigh.

 

You’re probably thinking, “First world problems, Courtney. What in the world are you even rambling about? How does this relate to love being patient?”  Well, let me try to explain myself. It’s these situations. The kind like I had this morning. The kind that you probably had five minutes ago. These everyday, split-second, completely common situations that I want to talk about.

 

It’s the way that we choose to handle these that I believe we can shine for the Lord in the biggest way.

 

How many times, in the midst of our impatience, do we say exactly what comes to our mouths before we take the time to really think about our words or their aftermath? Just speaking for myself, more often than I’d like to admit. How many times do we roll our eyes and sigh at the slow walker, the bad driver, or the forgetful server? I’ve already told on myself there. And it just makes me wonder. How much stress and conflict could have just been avoided in my life if I had just taken the time to think about my words/reactions first? If I had gone to the Lord in prayer before I made a hasty decision or remark? If I had looked at the situation for what it was – a momentary inconvenience – and simply let it go?

 

And how many times could I have been a light for the Lord that I wasn’t? If I had shown grace and patience and understanding rather then letting my initial reaction and humanness rule – how many lives could I have impacted or possibly changed forever?

 

As Christians, we are called to humble ourselves and to be a vessel for the Lord. To strive to listen instead of speak. To pray instead of react. In Proverbs 3:5, God tells us, “lean not on your own understanding.” When we quickly react in a situation before we go to the Lord – before we truly seek to understand or relate – we are doing the opposite of this; essentially telling God that we know what’s best. And honestly, up until about a week ago while preparing for this, I had never thought of it in that light. It was a big wake-up call for me. How much simply having patience with others is another way of honoring and worshiping our Creator. Wow.

 

But it’s all too easy to get caught up in what we think is a justified reaction, isn’t it? So easy to forget that we are called by God to be patient and show love in all situations.  Not just with our immediate family and friends or significant others. It makes no difference. One human being to another, our love should be patient, and our love should be kind.

 

How humbling that God shows us that kind of grace and abundant, never-failing love. When we are repetitively slow to hear Him and sometimes just blatantly ignoring Him.

 

It’s my prayer this month that we  can begin to fully comprehend the way in which God is loving us at this very moment. Listening to our cries and waiting and gently reminding. Loving us through our mess, our harsh words, our forgetfulness, our mistakes, and meeting us exactly where we are.

 

Love is patient.

 

I truly believe there’s a reason why, above all things, this quality is mentioned first. Not only is it one of the easiest to forget and one of the hardest to abide; but it’s also one of the most life-shaping, earth-shaking, world-changing reminders of all.

 

Starting today, let’s seek to shower love and grace and patience on everyone we encounter in the same way He showers us day after day! Let’s go to Him first. Let’s make it our daily mission to see past these temporary frustrations to something so much greater – something eternal – so that we can truly shine for Him.

– Courtney