This week’s Transformation Tuesday, in recognition of Valentine’s Day will be an excerpt from “To The Soul…” If you want to transform your life, link up with the persons and things you Love!
Love Is
What is Love? That’s probably the million dollar question. There are hundreds of songs about it, numerous amounts of books and websites dedicated to it, speeches, sermons, and seminars about it, and even full courses taught on it. It could quite possibly be the single most talked about subject of all time. That notwithstanding, it may also be the most confusing or misunderstood subject. We could spend hours, if not days trying to define it, but still miss the mark on its full meaning. Not to mention, if we surveyed 10 people with varying backgrounds, ages, and economic status’, and such, on how they would define love, there’s a good chance we could get 10 different answers. Since love is such a wide-ranging subject, I think the biblical definition of love, found in 1 Corinthians 13, is best for providing a foundation and it clearly provides guidelines for what love is and what love is not. Though most look at love in this context for relationships only, it can be applied to all aspects of life. We’ll come back to the scriptures, but first and for the sake of simplicity, I’ll just sum love up into three words: patience, kindness, and respect.
Patience – In this fast-paced, “I need it right now”, microwave instead of slow-cooking society that we live in, everyone seems to be in a hurry. Often times, people are in a hurry to do nothing. Something that irks me when I’m driving is when someone speeds up just to avoid letting another motorist in, in particular when they speed up to get to a red light and sit. This is just one example but there are many more where people being in a hurry creates a sense of rudeness or disregard for everyone else. The reason patience is integral to love is, it provides a greater appreciation of life. When you have patience, you’ve learned that some things require endurance, sacrifice, and perseverance, and subsequently, you have a better chance of controlling your emotions. Those three qualities also allow you to see the bigger picture and realize that it’s not all about you and you learn to value others.
Kindness – Is it me, or does everyone seem angry? It’s almost at the point where encountering someone without a negative or mean spirited attitude is rare and even refreshing. Simple things like holding the door for someone coming behind you, saying excuse me to interrupt a conversation or when you bump into someone, all seem to be lost. Instead, you see road rage, fights over parking spaces, shoving matches over toys and flat screen televisions on black Friday, fights between coaches, parents, and referees at youth sporting events, etc. Kindness is essential to love because it is part of our single most important role on this earth – service.
Though it is possible to serve others and not be kind, when you serve out of a genuine love, care, and concern for others, the spirit of kindness will not only be present, but it will impact others and you’ll be a blessing to them, and in turn, they may bless others. Essentially, when you learn to serve others, with a kind heart, you put their needs above yours and essentially contribute to the uplifting of all mankind.
Respect – When you see all the stories on bullying, other episodes of violence in our schools and on social media sites, there is one thing missing – respect. Not only do the kids lack respect for each other, but the teachers, principals, and other adults. In fact, what seems to be prevalent not only in the schools but in our society is a lack of respect for rules and authority in general. Along with the lack of respect, there’s no sense of value for human lives. People say respect is earned, but I think there should be a basic level of respect for all human beings. Respect for others means you won’t just hurt them, senselessly for your own enjoyment or gain. The patterns of learned violence that are systemic today can be changed, but it has to start with respect. Love and respect go hand in hand because loving your brother or sister means you respect them as an individual and appreciate them for what they bring to the table as a unique human being.