Love
It’s not a very big word, but it has some pretty big effects.
While on my missions trip in Ecuador I was able to see just how big of an effect love can have on someone. While in Ecuador I worked in an orphanage, we were building an edition to a dormitory there. The children all spoke Spanish, I don’t think any of them really knew any English. Communicating was pretty hard at first, even frustrating at times. The kids were so cute, you just wanted to be able to communicate! 🙂 I noticed through the week though, the members of the team (including myself) learned to communicate without speaking. A pat on the shoulder, a hug, a smile….LOVE.
We were able to “communicate” through love! That’s all you needed to have a relationship with the kids, all they needed and wanted to know was that you loved and cared about them.
The word Love is mentioned 310 times in the Bible!
John 15:9-17 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
You are not going to want to love the bully at school, the “friend” that ignores you and excludes you. But God never said it would be easy. You have the opportunity to be a light in a world full of darkness. So love like Jesus and make a difference 🙂
Ladies of the Lord <3 