The Charlie Brown teacher drones from the desk, “wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa. Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa.”
Some days I know that’s how my kids hear me. Their eyes glaze over, the eyelids droop. The words float around their brain, but never register as more than random syllables.
Why do adults sound so blah at times? Mostly, we are missing the love.
As Paul put it, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Love gives depth to our words, brings reality to our walk, makes genuine our faith.
What does love look like?
Pretty clear as Paul continues: 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
Whenever I think I’m showing love to someone I reread that description and realize I’m still falling short, often by a lot. My little sermonettes to my kids tend to lengthen because I like to hear myself talk. Or sometimes I’m really on to something and am talking as I mentally pick it apart for my own benefit. Nothing wrong with that, but no wonder my kids check out about then.
Love always puts the other person’s best interests first.
Love doesn’t quit.
Love thinks the best.
Love stays on the cross voluntarily.
Faith and hope keep looking ahead, but love gets into the nitty gritty of life and lives it with us . . . the greatest of these is love.
Sixty-six books in a year 