That's a 'wrap' on LOVE - 1 Corinthians 13
4/30/2010 12:39:03 AM
1 Corinthians #58 in series


 

Good Day, Friends~

Paul's insights on pure love are invaluable to our lives, though in themselves they are powerless.  It is the love of God who makes us whole.  Like the hummingbird's beak, we must drink long from the flower of his love in order to love well ourselves.  Nice picture.   I spent some time looking for some interesting, inspiring, intimate takes on love, and thought I would share them with you.  Each of them speaks to me, and some just plain draw me into this glorious thing we call 'love'.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

         Jesus, John 15.13

“The greatest thing in the world is love.  Of course it is that.  It is the chief spring of such happiness as we enjoy down here.  I do not say that there are not other things—such as the glory of the physical world in which we live, the companionship of books, and the delights of music and art—that add to the richness and fullness of life.  But love is the abiding source of our happiness and peace.  It is love—the love of father and mother, and wife and child, and friend that makes life worth having.  Without love, life is not a boon but a burden.”  Henry Drummond - 19th c. scientist, evangelist, Scotsman

"How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!" Brennan Manning - author; priest


“Your body needs to be held and to hold, to be touched and to touch. None of these needs is to be despised, denied, or repressed.  But you have to keep searching for your body's deeper need, the need for genuine love. Every time you are able to go beyond the body's superficial desires for love, you are bringing your body home and moving toward integration and unity.” 

Henri Nouwen,

incredible man of God - priest, lover of the downtrodden, author

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
 

C.S. Lewis
 

“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.” C.S. Lewis
 

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can  be obtained” C.S. Lewis

This is and has been the Father’s work from the beginning-to bring us into the home of His heart.” George MacDonald - another Scotsman, preacher, poet

 

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself

to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you

purpose and meaning."  

Mitch Albom   Tuesdays with Morrie, Have a Little Faith - his recent book--I LOVE IT!

“Intercession is a way of loving others.” Richard Foster - 'love this guy--he wrote The Celebration of Discipline

 

"I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to

love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have

to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have

time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.

- Anne Lamott, in a recent interview. (Source: The Washington Times)" - liberal, feminist Christian whose books I enjoy

  “The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is

natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that

way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.” Mother Teresa

There you have it . . . you've looked at love from 'several sides' now... Tomorrow, I shall go and love in Long Beach.  And when I come home, I shall love here . . . my family.  'Heard someone say today, 'I do real well loving until I come home to my family...'  How true that can be!  Yet, the stakes are greater at home than anywhere else, particularly when we have a hand in shaping lives.  

If you haven't spent time in this incredible 1 Corinthians chapter 13 this week, please take the weekend to do so.  You won't regret it.  Why?  Because "What's Love Got to Do With It?"  Well, 'Without LOVE, you are nothing,'  after all, "The Greatest of These is Love."  All of these are available on the website: www.pastorwoman.com under Morning Briefings.

Christine