Will You Love Well?
From Steve Benson, MA, MDiv, LPC, LCAS-A, Grace Roads Counseling Center, PLLC.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31, NIV)
Loving others is imperative to a good and fruitful life. There is no better way to live. If you want to be heard, love more. If you want to be noticed, love more. If you want to live a life with purpose, love more. If you love, people will hear you over the noise of the world's clamors for attention. They will remember your voice. If you do not love, you will just be another sound that gets lost in the distortions of life. Please let me repeat a section I wrote earlier in these pages. This is a paraphrase of the great love chapter (1st Corinthians 13:4-8, NIV).
Love never runs out. It constantly flows with gentle power. Love seeks the needs of others before they know that they even exist. Love is not jealous of other people's successes but applauds and enjoys them as its own. Love does not showcase an image that does not exist but is authentic, humble, and honest. Love does not draw attention to our victories but allows them to be a secret parade where all heaven cheers. Love keeps good boundaries of self-control and accepts feedback from others even if one does not agree. Love does not allow others to endure our impulses, our selfishness, or our irritable attitudes. Love looks forward and does not look back. It forgets yesterday's failures because tomorrow is a new day coming. Love stands up for truth and speaks it with calm clarity. Love will persevere to the end. Love never gives up when all hope is lost. Instead, love provides the power for hope to prosper. Love never gives in when one is tired and weak. Instead, love supplies strength to overcome. Love will always provide security, safety, and steadfastness. Love endures forever.
This is a portion of a letter I wrote to my daughter, Zoe Grace, summarizing what I hope for her as she grows into adulthood.
From the book "Embracing Love- Living on the Other Side of Disconnected Relationships" by Steve Benson (pages 255-256). West Bow Press © 2015 Used by permission.
