The Greatest of These is Love!

 Three weeks ago on this very day, I stood in a grassy field surrounded by rolling hills and the sound of song birds in the trees.

 I wiped away countless tears of joy as my youngest sister, Kelly gracefully walked down the aisle on the arm of our wonderful daddy to her groom Leif dressed in uniform under a beautiful white pergola lit by the warm rays of the morning sun.

 Brother Tim officiated the ceremony and blessed all of those present with words of encouragement and conviction inspired by the passage from 1 Corinthians 13.

 13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 My dearest sister Kelly and my new brother-in-law Leif, I wish you both a lifetime of happiness, joy and most importantly love. You both are filled with  love for one another from God's own love for you both. May you always know in both happy and sad times that God's love is what will always sustain you and strengthen you. Love indeed never fails! It is strong in the two of you and I am so very happy to have been a part of your special day. Many blessings on your marriage! I love you both!

 

 

God's Peace

This past week has been a whirlwind of happy and sad emotions all at once, juxtaposed one right with the other. In one hand of emotion I felt overwhelming joy at my own little sister's wedding, while in the other hand of emotion I felt complete sadness as my little sister in my sorority suffered the unexpected loss of her three year old son. In attending both services, the wedding of joy and the funeral of sorrow, I was struck by the realization of one great thing. In each, I felt an overwhelming presence of God's love represented in the hearts and collective gesture of all present to help celebrate or to help comfort the ones for whom we were standing up for. We all became the living, beating heart of Jesus and showered these individuals with God's love in both instances of joy and sorrow.

This juxtaposition of one joyful event and one sorrowful left me not overwhelmed by my roller coaster ride of emotion but rather with a feeling of great peace that God is present in everything and everyone from the most joyous of occasions to the most sorrowful. He is always with us to offer us his love and to bring us peace in every moment in life. That is something that sustains me to know that God is always with me in wonderful and sorrowful times and in everything in between.