I hold out the little cup of my heart to my husband, "Will you fill my empty spaces? Today will you do that one really romantic thing and make me feel like I'm the most terrific and special woman in the world?"
Then I hold it out to my children, "Will you fill up my empty spaces? Will you do something today that makes me look really good as a mom so I'll feel a little more validated?"
Then I hold it out to my ministry, "Will you fill up my empty spaces? Will you provide something today that makes me feel more significant?"
Maybe a Monday morning is an odd time to consider such things.
Or, maybe a Monday morning is the perfect time to hit the reset button on my sometimes frail heart. Love is a tricky thing. Our hearts were created to crave it. God proclaims that love is greater than hope and greater than faith.
Amazing.
God also proclaims that love never fails. And in the quietness of my heart that verse from 1 Corinthians 13 makes me squirm a bit. I see love failing all the time. Or do I?
If my only view of love is what it will give me, love from others will fail me every time. It's not that love fails. It's that other people were never meant to be my God. Even a great husband, wonderful children and a thriving ministry can never truly fill me up, right all my wrongs, and soothe those deep insecurities.
No, I can't read 1 Corinthians chapter 13 with eyes hungry to see what love should give me and then demand it from those around me. I should read those steadfast Scriptures with the realization, this is the kind of love I can choose to give.
I can choose that my love will be patient. My love will be kind. My love won't keep a record of wrongs. (Ouch- that's a hard one. right?)
I can choose that my love will protect and persevere.
And I can choose to lay the cup of my heart at Jesus' feet and stop twirling, twirling, twirling... hoping- no demanding that those around me do things for me they were never meant to do.
Interestingly enough, when I read 1 Corinthians 13 again this morning I found an odd yet perfect verse toward the end of the this chapter. "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 childish ways behind me." (verse 11)
Yes indeed.
Love isn't what I have the opportunity to get from this world. Love is what I have the opportunity to give.
Wonderful devotion! Thank you for sharing. My favorite line, "other people were never meant to be my God."
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautifully written devotion that did, indeed, hit my reset button this Monday morning.
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