February 10, 2022
Love is Patient; love is kind; … It does not insist on its own way.
1 Corinthians 13 4-5
Paul’s words about love in the First Letter to the Corinthians are some of the most inspiring and well-known in the Bible. From Paul we learn that love is much more than a feeling. It is, in fact, a decision, an act of our will. – Scott Stoner, written for Living Well Through Advent 2021
It can be really hard to love and to choose patience. Especially when the decisions of others whom you love and who choose differently than you can really try your patience.
This weekend my daughter (age 8) and I took a drive to Boston and I let her navigate with GPS. I knew where I was going (pretty much) but when we came to a tricky intersection in the Fenway area, I took her instruction that I should go straight on to Storrow Drive which sent us away from the Museum of Fine Arts (where we were headed). Not a problem, I thought to myself, I still know where I am. I will let her continue to navigate. When we came to the exit for Watertown/Cambridge she started to tell me we were now 58 minutes away from our destination. Fearing that we were going to be stuck in traffic for 58 minutes, I told her I really didn’t know the best way to make a U-Turn so I really needed to look at the map but I would “give it back”. After a momentary power struggle she released control and I checked the map. Turns out she had changed the transportation mode to “walking” and so I switched it back to “driving” and we were on our way and had a great time at the art museum.
Both of us had to relent our desire to have something “our own way” and put working as a team before our personal need to be in control in order to get to our goal. It is a decision to practice patience when you’re trying to build trust, but it is certainly worth the effort when love is the result. We are blessed when we live in love with each other to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things with each other because we know God is really the one in charge.
Help us God to always be kind with each other. We are all trying, in both senses of the word!
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Noonan