on sharpening my reflection…

Love never gives up. 
Love cares more for others than for self. 
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. 
Love doesn’t strut, 
Doesn’t have a swelled head, 
Doesn’t force itself on others, 
Isn’t always “me first,” 
Doesn’t fly off the handle, 
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 
Doesn’t revel when others grovel, 
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
Puts up with anything, 
Trusts God always, 
Always looks for the best, 
Never looks back, 
But keeps going to the end.

I Corinthians 13: 4-7 (MSG)

If I compare the description of love in these verses to my version of love, I come up painfully short, failing in so many ways. I crave what others have instead of simply celebrating the success of others. My patience shows frayed edges instead of putting up with anything. I look at the worst possible scenario instead of always looking for the best.

I feel so flawed, so incomplete.

But then I look at the verses again, through the lens of a Savior who loves me unconditionally, and I am awestruck. The God of the Universe cares more about me than His own needs. He forgives me again and again, even when I make the same mistakes an impossible number of times. He doesn’t push His agenda on me, but patiently waits for me to take that single step towards His arms so that He can gather me close to him.

And I think, in a world of shattered love and me-centered living, to be able to know…simply know…that God loves me so completely sends me flat on my face in gratitude.

I am loved.

But it also gives me hope. I am made in His image, even though my reflection is hazy and dim. But every choice to love instead of envy, to love instead of fight back, to love instead of give back sharpens that image until I can start to see the outline of God surrounding my reflection.

That is what love does.

That is what love is.