Learning Love

Loving...must it be learned? It comes so naturally, so easily for some. Sacrifice and humility...a way of life for some. Not for me.

The morning after the conversation, I silently talked with God. Teach me to love...to really love...because I'm not sure I've ever really known how. Like usual, the prayer slipped from my thoughts as the day progressed. But God had heard.

The next day, I was asked to learn and sing a song for the coming Sunday. As I listened to it for the first time, I sat stunned. I clicked over to perform a lyric search. Had I heard those words correctly? If I do not love, I am nothing. I knew the text from which those words came, but I hadn't heard them in song before. And I was to listen to that song countless times over the next four days in order to be prepared to sing it. Every time I listened, every time I sang, I was humbled. Tears formed often.

Sunday rolled around, and I sang. The song fit perfectly with the sermon. The text for the sermon was 1Corinthians 13. Love. While the entire sermon was valuable, several quotes pierced me:

People can fake love.
Love uses tact, and makes others feel at ease.
Our preferences are not the standard.
Love has a delete key.
Love covers, protects, defends and encourages.
Taken from "The Fruit of the Spirit Is Love" by Buddy Gray

Sometimes this loving may have to be learned by people like me, with God as our Instructor. And maybe this learning, followed by doing {with only loving as motivation}, will lead to naturally loving:

Apathy for concern...
Condemnation for encouragement...
Harsh words for kind...
Performance for authenticity...

All for no other reason but loving.