In my last post I have stated that being patient sometimes is hard and implies suffering. Where other versions use the word ‘patient’, the KJV has: ‘Charity suffereth long.”
Now where is patience going to lead us? We remain calm even though this may require great discipline. Yet what is happening inside us? Are we boiling hot? Are we going to explode thereafter?
The second phrase in 1 Corinthians 13:4 refers to our reaction having exercised patience. Many English translations say: “Love is kind.”
Kindness leads us way beyond the idea of merely refraining from punishing somebody. If patience makes us think of what a loving person would not do, being kind refers to words, gestures, actual behaviour and activities.
Love is patient, love is kind.
Love is more than just saying: I don’t mind.
Without love, as for others’ needs I may be virtually blind.
How can we learn to love?
Love is patient, love is kind.
Kindness may imply
Giving a helping hand,
Showing somebody the way to the Promised Land
And teaching others how not to build their lives on sinking sand.
Lord God, please teach me the ways of love.
May my life be governed by your Spirit from above!
Let me receive your word as a seed on fruitful ground.
May it be truthfully said about me that in my attitudes and feelings I am heavenwards bound!
(Cf. Matthew 7,24-27; Matthew 13:23)
