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My grandkids and I are still working on the Fruit of the Spirit that is called LOVE. We’ve continued memorizing the Fruit of the Spirit verse and we’ve done a lot of talking about love. God’s love for us and our love for each other.
As I was praying about God’s love this morning, He reminded me of the passage in 1 Corinthians that talks about love:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails…But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Isn’t that a wonderful prescription for caregiving? It doesn’t matter whether you are taking care of an aging parent, an adorable but precocious grandkid, or for that matter, dealing with a sweet but but occasionally recalcitrant spouse. Perhaps it’s a cute but capricious teen? How about a boss or coworker who sometimes makes you want to scream. Let’s face it, no one is perfect. And as caregivers, we sometimes see our loved ones in worse moods than anyone else because they don’t feel well. Focusing on and following God’s prescription to love them no matter what really does make a difference.
It’s not enough, though, to read this once, think how nice it is and promptly forget it. I have it posted in my bathroom and pray through a different verse from it each day. Over the last few years. I must have prayed through it more than one hundred times. You’d think I’d have it totally memorized, but my brain just doesn’t work that way anymore. The Holy Spirit does though. It astounds me how often I will be in the midst of a difficult situation, start feeling a little hot around the collar, and all of a sudden one of the verses from this passage pops into my brain. I wish I could tell you how perfect I am at following it all the time. 🙂 I’m not. I’m learning, though. Step by step and prayer by prayer. It really does help me though. And when I’m working with the grandkids and teaching them, it’s awesome to see God using it there as well.
It’s time for me to reprint my copy as the shower humidity has crinkled my old one up. If I were really on top of things, I’d grab a roll of clear plastic contact paper, encase a printout of the verses in that, and hang it up. Then it would stay much nicer, much longer. I’d add some pretty pictures too. Simple works for me, though. How about you? If simple is good, just join me by printing out the verses as is and hanging it where you’ll see it often. For fancier, copy them into Word or another program and have a blast. If you’d like to share your handiwork, we’d love to see it.
Have a blessed day! 🙂
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Hi, Thanks for stopping by and for the sweet comment! 🙂 🙂 🙂
You are so right. Loving someone when they are at their worst is God’s love, and also the love of a caregiver. Thank you!