Ascension : News From The Grotto
Submitted by The Islander (Gavin Yon) 05.02.2004 (Article Archived on 19.02.2004)

Thought For The Week

            “Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude and selfish; it does not take offence, and it is not resentful.”  These words are probably the best definition of love one could ever find anywhere.  This is God’s definition of love, His words told to us through Paul.  This explanation for the emotion of love is for love for any other person, spouse, parent, child, or friend.

            There are so many forms of love that a person experiences over their life.  Initially, there is the love that we feel for our parents.  As a child, they are our whole universe.  They nurture us and protect us.  Gradually, our world expands to include siblings, grandparents and other family members, all people who are there for us.  As we grow, friends come into the picture.  We learn to appreciate other people, people outside our little sphere of family.  These people may be different from our previous experiences, have different beliefs and traditions, and through them we learn tolerance.  We learn that there are many different forms of love, that friends are included in our ability to love.  Then as we become adults, many of us “fall” in love with another person.  We pledge ourselves to this person and start families.  With children, we discover one of the strongest forms of love.  Those of us with children know that we would do anything in the world to protect them.  We finally understand how our parents felt for us, the true depth of their caring and concern, and it deepens our feelings for them.  Then, as our parents age, and we become the caretakers, another facet of love is revealed to us.  Love has many expressions, but they all fit the definition given to us by Paul. 

            Many of us have learned that in the real world, there are lots of people who don’t understand this definition of love.  Their interpretation of love is narrow, selfish and demanding.  There are stories of parents who undermine their children’s relationships out of fear that there will be no room left for them, children who sabotage their single parent’s future relationships for the same reason.  There are spouses who expect their partners to prove their love by focusing totally on them, excluding their friends and families.  But this is not true love.  Everything expected in these types of relationships are the exact opposite of Paul’s definition of love. 

            When exposed to these people, we have to examine the reasons for their misunderstanding of what love truly is.  Hopefully, with patience and guidance we can demonstrate the real meaning of love.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  But we can never lose sight of God’s words.  And we have to do all we can to live up to them, and guard against our own emotions straying from them.  In all our dealings with others, those close to us, and even strangers, we must know that we are God’s children and that we can live up to His teachings. 

As we go through our lives, we must always do our best to prove to our Lord that we listen to, and understand His teachings, and that we take them to heart.  Let us follow Him when we demonstrate our love for others, and show patience and kindness to those who are part of our lives, and those who are just passing through.  And let us all remember His words, words that so eloquently sum it all up for us: “In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.”