“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13 v 4-13)
What is love?
It is patient.
The national tree of Sri Lanka is the talipot, it is a palm tree that grows to a height of 82 feet. It only flowers once but it happens some time when it is between 30 – 80 years old. Yet I seem to live in a world where we want everything now.
Maybe you wake today to another day of battling the discouragement and disappointment of what is now on you. Within you is patience that will not give up. It never admits defeat. It is not finished off by disappointment or discouragement. Within you is love, His love.
A woman rushed up to famed violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) after a concert and cried: “I’d give my life to play as beautifully as you do.” Kreisler replied, “I did.”
If you plant a Chinese bamboo seed, it will sit in the ground for five years and appear to not be making any changes. Then, over a six-week period, it will grow 90 feet.
There is a giant Himalayan lily which spends most of its life looking like nothing at all but then after 5-7 years it grows to 9-10 feet tall and produces the most amazing delicately shaped flowers.
However, when it comes to human achievement and maybe even our own process of maturing, we are the most impatient.
Yet no human, not even Jesus moves from baby to man without the need to grow.
Within that growth comes many challenges and pains attached to the process. These are necessary for development.
The truth is one day you will stand before Him the finished article. Until then you are in the growing phase, being perfected for eternity.
Today is another day to grow. Embrace it. Love your way through the day. Let this love be patient with yourself and with others.
Missions Paul 