New Years Challenge: Love More

It was 6 am and the airport was absolute chaos. I sleepily checked my bag on, bought my chick fil a breakfast, found my gate and sat down. I put my headphones in and tried to pretend that flying didn’t give me crippling anxiety (who was I kidding?). I needed anything to get me out of my own head because no matter how much I tried to ration with myself I was still worried sick about getting on the plane.

Next thing I know someone is coming sit next to me with the same breakfast and was like “omg, no way! I saw your sweatshirt and was like it must be her.” But seriously, what are the odds that someone I know would be sitting next to me on the plane ride home.

Okay, now fast forward to about half way through the plane ride. We were discussing how difficult it can be when you really love and care for someone and they can’t see that love or worse off choose to deny that love. This lead us to the topic of love in general: love in our day to day life, Christ’s love for us, and love found in suffering.

Pretty much our entire conversation revolved around this verse: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 

I know this is a verse that we have all heard before (and if you are like me you overlook it), but how beautiful is it. And something I learned from our conversation is that the latin root word for patience is patiens, or pati which literally means to endure or to suffer. This means that love is to endure. Love is to suffer. Love is to keep giving even when it hurts.

I would be lying if I said this was easy. I know I fall short of this so many times. This conversation we were having was a rude awakening for me because I am the one who chooses to deny love. I quit loving when it hurts or when someone hurts me, I walk away from love because how could anyone love someone as broken as me, and I give up when people walk out of my life. I am slowly this is no way to live my life and that something has to change.

Friends I challenge you with this new year: someone hurts you — love them more. Someone you love is suffering — enter into that suffering with them. Someone you love can’t accept that love — be patient with them. Love until it hurts and then love more.