So I've been reading all of my friends' blogs lately, and I've become inspired. I love to write, and I feel like I've lost that in the busyness of life and college. I've been getting a lot of inspiration from various people in my life recently, and I don't think they even know it. And this is a start. I have a lot of goals to improve myself, my relationships, and most importantly, my relationship with God. All three of these have been suffering and it's time for a change.
My favorite thing is Love. Love is literally the most important thing in life. I recently looked up I Corinthians 13 in The Message and I love this version:
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. 8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
I love what the Bible has to say about love. This is the model of love that God designed for us to follow. How many times does my love look like this kind of love? Probably never. I'm challenging myself to show this kind of love. It'll take a while - as humans, how can we ever love like God loves us? It's incomprehensible. But I'm going to strive for it to the best of my ability. Through me, people should see God's love. And that includes everyone, even people I don't like. That may be the biggest challenge.
I hope I really, really get into this blogging thing - it seems like so much fun and a great outlet for thoughts and feelings!
