LOVE

About a month ago, I felt called to begin an in depth study of LOVE.  Interestingly enough, my church has begun a series called LOVAPOLOOZA.  Check out the first message in the series titled DAISY for a little talk that I would say will change your life! Thanks to Pastor Bo Stern.

As I began to dive into this thing called LOVE.  I decided what better place to really get a grip on love then 1 Corinthians 13:4-9.  The famous LOVE verse!  So, that’s exactly where I went and I thought you might like to see what I have uncovered in all my seeking and searching and digging and analyzing scripture and work study!  Pull up your bible, open up to the wonderful scripture and lets get started.

Love is Patient………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Yep, that’s as far as I got!  Stopped right in my tracks and was like…what the heck is patience!  Well, not really like that, I actually was ready to skip on ahead and be done with the whole love study in about 20 minutes.  Cause, ya ya ya..love is patient, love is kind, love is….I got this, right?!  Wrong, completely wrong.  I had spent most of the summer listening to love songs to my Savior and just soaking in worship of my God.  I suppose when one does such a thing, the Holy Spirit is locked and loaded to do some work through The Word, when one decides to dig deep.  So, LOVE IS PATIENT.  Got stuck there and haven’t gone past it.

Patient, Patience…not a characteristic I tend to be super full of.  Sure I can be patient when I want to be.  I can make my kids be patient.  I can tell YOU to be patient.  I can tell you that waiting is good and pure and right.  But when I want something, I want it NOW and the fruit of patience is nowhere to be found.  This has all been painfully apparent recently as I’ve been put in a place of waiting.  And needless to say I’m not so patient, but I know the Lord will not open the floodgate until I master this area of patience.  So, I decided to give into the good work of the Holy Spirit and practice patience.

One thing that has helped me is that the word ‘patient’ in this verse, is the same ‘patient’ found in James 5:7. 

Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.  Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.

Be patient until the coming of the Lord.  Again, this is another ya, ya, ya verse, because what else can we do here really?  I’ve called Jesus back so many times now that I think he plugs his ears every time I call for his return.  Its not yet time.  And as the farmer waits for his produce to grow, he too needs to be patient.  Why?  Because the seed needs the early and late rains!  BINGO….did you catch that?  Our impatience can cause a harvest of something that is not yet ready.  Patience waits, because the late rains are just as important as the early ones.  So often I experience something and like it so much that I can’t wait, or be patient for it to be a permanent part of my life.  Shoes for example.  A cute pair of shoes should be found and purchased immediately.  No hesitation.  But what if there is not money in the budget for the shoes?  You must wait.    But I have learned that Love is patient.  Which means love waits.  It waits for the later rains.  It waits for the other person.  It is long suffering because it knows that the best love comes after while, after the rains have come and given nourishment.  After all the clouds have lifted and all the healing has come. 

Patients is a key characteristic of Love and if you’re like me you need more of it!  You need to understand it better and sharpen your skills in this area.  I haven’t moved on from this place of scripture because God is still letting it take root.  And I will be patient as He does His good work.  When I move on, I’ll let you know….soon we’ll discover that Love is Kind…ya ya ya