Love is...

Now that "love day" is over which apparently has become synonymous with posting photos of your rich spoils on Facebook, and my new personal favorite, announcing your pregnancy, we can discuss actual love. Sorry, I'm still on my rant from yesterday, but really, Facebook was INTENSE. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be a single lady yesterday.

Anyway, off topic. My devotional early this week kind of stuck it to me good. Serious conviction time. So I thought I'd share. We will start with this:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Everyone has heard that scripture. It was probably read at more than half the weddings you've attended. Those verses never really meant too much to me, I guess from their abundant use, until I heard Andy Stanley's series "Falling Staying in Love". This is an INCREDIBLE series, and in it, Andy explains how to stay in love. We all know how to fall in love, that part is easy. But in our culture, staying in love is really, really hard. And I'll admit, coming from a broken family, with more broken families all around me, and marrying a man who also came from a broken family, I was having some doubts about my ability to love him three, five, ten, twenty years in. Four years ago, when I heard this message, it just hit me: God commands us to love one another. It's not a noun, it's a verb. So falling out of love isn't the problem… it's not a thing. You can't fall out of an action.

But apparently, I need reminders, because despite understanding the verse, I still fail at carrying it out A LOT.

So this is how my devotional breaks it all down:

Love endures long. It has the ability to put up with stuff for a long time. Fail. I so often have a short fuse. One little thing goes wrong and my mood swings like a pendulum.
Love is never envious, it doesn't want what it doesn't have. Fail. I'm currently so envious of Sam. He knows what he wants out of life, and his dreams are about to come true.
Love is never boastful or vainglorious, it doesn't call attention to itself. Fail. My pride so often gets in the way of loving my husband.
Love is never conceited or rude. Fail. I'm rude to him all the time. Not intentionally, but little things don't show him respect.
Love doesn't insist on its own way. Love pays no attention to a suffered wrong. Fail. Isn't that what arguing is all about, "I want my way"? I know that for me, laying down my will and forgetting the moment I feel slighted or mistreated is so hard.
Love never gives up!

Man oh man, do I fall short of loving Sam well. I've been so richly blessed to have a man like Sam in my life. But I fail so often at showing my gratitude and communicating love and respect to him. I'm so thankful that Sam doesn't give up on me!

How about you? Are you actively living out love? Are you doing love? If you're married, how are you doing at loving your spouse? If you're not married, who has the Lord placed in your life and asked you to love? Are you loving well?