Love is Patient, Love is Kind

1 Corinthians 13:4 -13

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek it's own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

These words of Paul, "love is patient; love is kind" (1 Corinthians 13:4), always seem to haunt me as a mother. There are many, many times when I am not patient or kind, especially with my children. I have a "trigger" inside me that says, "You are not being patient or kind or loving- in fact, you are rather being mean." I wonder why I don't have a trigger inside me that says at other times, "Wow! You were really patient and kind. In fact, you did great!"

It is so much easier to be critical of ourselves than to praise ourselves. But with the ups and downs of motherhood, we need to praise ourselves because, as you and I both know, sometimes we are the only ones who will.

O God, help me to know when I am being impatient or unkind, but also help me to pause and celebrate when I am being loving and kind. This is a hard job, and I need all the encouragement I can get.

~Leanne Ciampa

Wow....so true.