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Monday, June 5, 2017

Always Hopeful


Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT

Am I patient when life is hard, Lord? Am I patient with others when circumstances rage, or do I demand my own way? Does kindness flow no matter what life brings, or do I build a wall of false protection that will never protect me? It only keeps you from reaching my heart, Holy Spirit. I not only hold others at arm’s length, but you too. Help me to always be open to your love, Jesus. Help me to choose patience, and gentleness and kindness. I choose to be humble and patient, bearing with those who have hurt me.

Your love doesn’t keep a record of times I have been wronged. You never kept a record of times I have wronged you. You have forgiven me completely. You know if I choose to forgive again and again, I will know and feel your grace flowing through me instead of experiencing rejection and anger behind a wall of false protection.

Your love never rejoices over the pain someone experiences when they fail you. Your love feels their pain, and your grace forgives. When I choose to not have the mindset that the person who failed “got his due”, then I have opened my heart to your love and grace. I didn’t get my due. I deserved death, but instead I received life and your undeserved favor. Your love never gave up on me. Your truth won my heart.

Love never gives up in any relationship. Although wronged at times, love never loses faith that you, Lord, will restore what has been lost. It remains hopeful that you will heal what has been battered by the circumstances of life. Life is not fair, Lord, but you offer love that endures no matter what is thrown my way. It is in choosing patience and kindness and forgiveness that I invite you, Holy Spirit, to free my heart.

You know my hurt and my overwhelming life. You were wounded out of love for me, and you, are my wounded healer, Lord. I will remain hopeful in every circumstance. Fear of what I might lose in life will not claim my heart. You call me to live fearlessly—to live in freedom without false walls of self-protection. I choose your love, Jesus, and not my own which is so limited. I choose your life and love and nothing less.

© 2017 Lynn Lacher

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