Settle down, it'll all be clear...

Love is patient. Love is kind.

Words we have heard repeatedly for years, but what does it really mean? Last night at small group we sat and talked about just that, and in the end what we decided was that patience is important because it keeps us from being selfish and allows us to truly wait on the will of God. How can we truly know what it is that God desires of us execept we wait on him? A beautiful example of this is Jesus' delay in visiting Lazarus.

Lazarus, the one Jesus loved, was dying, but it was not in God's plan for Jesus to go directly to him. He was delayed for days. In the meantime Lazarus dies, and when Jesus arrives his heartbreaks. He weeps, but God is glorified. Though Jesus had to suffer very human heartache, and to endure the accusastions of those he loved, he waited on the Lord's bidding to arrive precisely when he needed so that God could best be glorified through his actions. (John 11: 1-44)
In James 5:7-11 we are told to be patient in our suffering. Given the example of a farmer tending his crops. It is not the farmer who causes the plants to grow. He must patiently wait on the fruits that God will produce. Isn't that beautiful? We wait patiently; tending to our hearts, filling them with God's word, surrounding them with fellow Christians--a broken world in need of love, longing to be touched by the One who created them, and God causes the fruits to grow. We need only be patient, as the Lord is patient with us.

I think in the busyness of life we often forget that we, too, are in need of patience, but God has done that for us already. "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentence." 2 Peter 3:9. Though in this life we are apt to suffer, we should not confuse long suffering with eternal suffering. The pain and the trials we go through today, strengthen us for tomorrow. They add to our testimony. They glorify God, and if we view them from that perspective we find joy growing within us. Praise God!

I believe that I shall look on the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage-wait for the Lord!

-Psalm 27: 13-14

When it comes to kindness the definition is a bit murky. How do you put it into words?! (I feel the same of love. It is indescribable. To truly know love is to simply feel it. To be it. To let it wash over you and change every thing.) Luckily, God gave us some pretty incredible examples of kindness. From the story of Ruth and Boaz, a man who shows love to a stranger--blessing her and showing the beauty of God's providence. To the beautiful portrayal of selfless love and kindness that we see in the story of David and Mephibosheth where David reaches out to the only remaining member of Jonathan's family and adopts him into his own (like Christ did with us!)

Patience and kindness are not easy. They are transformations of heart that can only come from God, but that is my prayer for you and I. That God open our hearts to the world and that we truly portray the type of love and kindness he asks from us. The kind that he shows.

It is not easy to always believe in God's goodness. The world is bleak, but if we look beyond ourselves we cannot help, but to see that this world is indeed filled with beauty, with opportunities for us to be a smile, a hug, a laugh to those in need (and to be the recipents as well! Please, do not forget friends, that you are just as worthy of receiving love as you are of giving it!)

Join me in memorizing Psalm 27: 13-14? Let that be the cry of your heart? Let it truly sink in and by knowing that you will see the goodness of the Lord I know that we will also become that goodness to this broken world.

Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage-wait for the Lord!