Love Endures
Excerpt from 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8
"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
In his famous hymn to love, the Apostle Paul says that love "endures all things." Endurance is not one of the sexier spiritual virtues. It sounds like a lot of work, and not always pleasant work at that.
By comparison, faith can sound glamorous. After all, you can make a leap of faith. A leap! Why, it's almost dashing.
Love sounds grand. There are songs written about love. In fact, it's hard to find a song that isn't written about love. Courage sounds gallant. Hope sounds, well… hopeful.
And endurance? Well, it doesn't sound glamorous or grand or gallant. It just sounds like a lot of work.
I have come to think of endurance, however, as love with its work clothes on. When Paul says, "Love bears all things… endures all things," it is another way of saying that love endures because it puts up with a lot.
A while back I was talking with someone who was reflecting on the challenge of relating on an ongoing basis with someone who is particularly difficult. "It's an endurance test. That's what it is like to be her friend—it's an endurance test." What a great description, I thought. After all, "to endure" means two different things—to put up with a lot and to last. Two different meanings, and yet, when love has its work clothes on, the two are inextricably related. Love endures all things.
Prayer
Thank you, God, that there are people whose love for me endures. In some ways they put up with a lot, but that also means that their love for me is lasting. What a gift. Amen.
Thank you, God, that there are people whose love for me endures. In some ways they put up with a lot, but that also means that their love for me is lasting. What a gift. Amen.
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