independently wealthy

in my current bout of waiting, you would think i would be blogging more; seeing as how my time is unlimited by hours of prepping a classroom, writing intricate lesson plans, or spent in professional development training. but as is most things with life, when you have the time, you don't do it. when you don't have the time, you find the time.

in my time in the word this morning, i decided to re-read some of my favorite passages. but this time, i read them in the Message Bible, a text i'm not fully familiar with, aside from the controversy of taking the literal and making it just practical. i loved the new light it shed on old, familiar text.

i was blown away by reading every loverbird's favorite chapter: 1 Corinthians 13. even thinking about the context it was written in (Paul addressing issues of dissension in the church; how to treat our brethren), i think it has strong implications for all of our daily interactions. i've posted it here for your convenience, and my historian personality.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.Love never dies.

Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

i am indefinitely blown away by the vivid imagery that this text evokes. rusty gates, burned martyr? we don't even begin to think of these things in our modern-day Christianity outside of formal scripture. but to honestly live with love, calling life without love bankrupt!? that part got me. knowing that all the credentials in the world mean nothing without love. that a swiss bank-account with a posted balance in the trillions would yield nothing without love?! we miss that, and we miss it by a huge margin most often.

to know that love puts up with anything, always trusts God ... wow! are we living this out as Christians right now? in our quarrels and silly, selfish wants, are we trying to take things into our own hands and out of the hands of the Almighty God that may have ordained our current situation just as it is? and we go and get frustrated with people: superiors/bosses/principals, HR departments, co-workers, friends, roomates, family, children, spouses or significant others. we say it's my way or the high-way. they need to apologize. i'm hurt, and i'm right, and i have the right to be hurt. no, no, NO! God did not design us to seek self-promotion (love isn't always me first-- nor does it say never me first, that's another post!). He designed us to live within the church or our Christian family as an illustration of His love for the world. to love unconditionally, to seek Him above all, and to serve humbly and with compassion. is there a clause about getting hurt in the process? nope. is there one about ruined first impressions, or neglected second chances? not that i can see here. love, true love for one another requires a selfless choice to say "no matter what." without having a background in statistics or any real way of measuring this, i would venture to say 90% of love is completely regardless of feelings. its a choice, just as paul describes it here.

many of us are familiar with this text from weddings or valentine's or marking a commitment in a romantic relationship; and although this is a wonderful example of unconditional love that is required in committed, romantic relationships, Paul was not giving marriage counsel to Mary and Joseph. he was addressing relationships, friendships, interactions among Christians! i am almost mad at myself for constantly missing the fullness of what this text means.

again, i re-read the end. simple passages that are often trimmed from the typical 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 faire: "Trust steadily in God; hope unswervingly, and love extravagantly."

wow. God is so good.