Love Is Kind

Yesterday's preparation in love was patience, with the challenge of not saying anything negative. Today, there was plenty of opportunity to demonstrate patience. This morning, as I enjoyed my coffee, I realized that the remote for the living room was missing. I figured that someone had walked off with the remote in their hand and set it down somewhere in the house. I wasn't concerned about the remote, but someone else was. Someone else chose to pass the blame on to me, even though I knew that I didn't lose the remote, and continued to lecture me as we looked for the remote. I stated the facts, as I remembered from the day before, and then chose not to respond to their negative comments. It didn't matter who was responsible for the remote having gone missing, but sometimes people just want to argue anyways. I chose not to enter into the argument and eventually decided to walk away before I said something negative.

S Scripture: "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man." Proverbs 3: 3-4

"She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue." Proverbs 31: 26

O Observation: God is kind to us, He forgives us and blesses us, even though we don't deserve it. We are to treat others this same way. God wants us to bind kindness and truth around our necks because they are important in His sight. We should speak with wisdom and our tone should be kindness, that people would be receptive to the words we speak.

A Application: I need to be gentle in my interactions, helpful to meet the needs of the moment, willing to be flexible, and take the initiate to meet the need shown.

P Prayer: God, I am not as kind as I should be. Help me to practice kindness. In Your loving name, Amen. 

Love Is Patient

The last few days I have prayed about preparation, not knowing where to start, but knowing that I needed to do something to prepare my heart. I struggled with how to practice, how to truly understand, without someone else there and I turned this over to God. I have felt pushed to prepare, but equally that God isn't going to give me someone until I am prepared. Admittedly, I felt stuck, but then I realized I could study the characteristics and principles of love. With the study, I could also apply the characteristics/principles of love to everyone I encounter in my life. After all, traits like patience and kindness aren't suppose to be reserved just for the one we love. As I enter this time of preparation, I know it will be challenging, but I enter it with eyes open and ready to grow in my understanding of love. I trust God to guide me, to give me understanding, and to bless this journey. I know that He is with me every step of the way, teaching me that I would love like Him.

S Scripture: "Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

O Observation: God's will is that we would be humble, recognizing we are humans who make mistakes, and gentle, recognizing that our tone can affect other people. He wants us to be patient, bearing with each other in love. We need to wait, allow ourselves to see the whole picture, and provide others with the opportunity to be human and to fix their mistakes.

A Application: When I feel an injustice, I am quick to act upon it, to give full vent to my feelings and all, but demand justice from the person. This is not patience or bearing with one another in love. I need to guard my mouth, show restraint in my words, and wait: for the person to correct their mistake or for me to see the whole picture.

P Prayer: God, please forgive me for my impatience. Help me remember I am human too and keep me from responding negatively. In Your loving name, Amen. 

Proverbs 19

Proverbs 19: Proverbs of Solomon (Cont.). 

Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse. A person's own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord. A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish. A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done. Stop listening to instruction and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

God wants our walk to be blameless, so much so that He would rather us be poor than fools. The actions we take, whether wise or foolish, have consequences. Our foolish actions lead to our heartache and God allows us to suffer the consequences that we might gain knowledge. Our lives and our words should be honest for falsehood will be found out and punished. God wants us to be patient and to overlook the offences of others: we all make mistakes. Be kind to the poor and do not stray from wisdom.

5 Reasons of Waiting

Once again I find myself in a place of waiting. The problem with waiting is not having all of the details. From my perspective, I have it figured out, I know what needs to happen, and now I want God to act on my time frame. But rarely does God do things according to our time frame. This leads to disappointment, feelings of discouragement, and if we aren't careful to the belief God doesn't care or is mad at us. God is noted many times in the scripture to do things in His time, He isn't in a hurry, and it seems He always has a plan and a purpose for everything. God has good reasons for making us wait. Waiting is a part of life and one of God's tools for developing us.

Waiting reveals our true motives. If our motives are unpure, we aren't going to wait around long because we don't really care to see it through. The interest is in short term gains or successes. We need to make sure what we want to accomplish is not for ourselves or to protect our egos.

Waiting builds patience in our lives. Patience in small things leads to patience in bigger things. The problem we encounter is often our perspective. God's interests are in influencing and changing people while our's are more often selfish. We want what WE want, what WE need, and when WE want it rather than what is best for the people around us. 

Waiting builds anticipation. The longer we have to wait for something the more we appreciate it. When we appreciate something, we have a tendency to take better care of it, and when we are waiting on someone, we are more likely to love them like Jesus loves us. 

Waiting transforms our character. Like a piece of charcoal that needs pressure to be transformed into a diamond, waiting has a way of rubbing off the rough edges of our lives. Moses was impatient and rough in his youth. He killed a man and even discarded of the body before trying to escape his sin, but 40 years in the desert transformed his character. It was then that God could use him to deliver the Israelite from the Egyptians. This time he did God's way and in God's time.

Waiting builds intimacy and dependency upon God. Waiting during the difficult times developed a relationship with God for the great men and women in the Bible. The good news is that God never asks us to wait without him.