We always heard when we were little, patience is a virtue. This is true but the older I get, the more I think love is the more difficult of the virtues. There is only so much I can do about patience.
I cannot speed up the natural process of things but I can make the choice to love or just survive.
Let me explain what I mean.
Every day we wake up, put our feet on the cold floor, to much protest from our aching bodies, and proceed to live. We prepare lunches for our families, send them on their ways, go to work, come home, go to bed, and do it over again. Though our days can be predicable, our moods cannot. And our attitudes, many times, determine our day. Let me explain where love comes into my thoughts.
Even on days when we do not feel well, we didn’t sleep the night before, or are being put down by other people; we are expected to love all people, all of the time.
It is amazing the direction we can channel our day, when we ignore our self and pour gladness and compassion into others.
But love does not come easy.
This is a continual denial of self for the good of others. This humility is worth striving for because when we see the response of others and the way it can change our day, it gives us the pride we need. Yet this is not a pride of our own. This is a pride in Christ, for giving us the strength to do that which is contrary to our laws of nature.
Let me leave you with a challenge instead of a question today: Tread carefully through your day today. Take a deep breath and open your eyes to the people in need around you.
My day always goes better when I think of God’s love and then ask Him to fill me with His love so I can love others. I feel so much better when I’m thinking of others and their needs instead of mine. Jesus gives us the command to love others, but we cannot do it on our own power. We need His power to make it possible.