Day 94: I Can Love ... even when it's hard

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
Galatians 5:6

Recently I heard from a couple that they had agreed not to quickly say the words, "I love you" but to wait and let their actions demonstrate what love is. I know that our son and his wife during their courtship made a covenant not to say "I love you" until they had dated one year. Sounded odd to me at first...but I began to enjoy the last comments of a phone conversation, "Good night, I like you ... I like you allot!" Precious. And then on a silly movie yesterday it was said, "Love is friendship on fire!"

Love is an expression....of friendship...through acts of kindness...liking someone.

But love isn't always easy. It does take time and effort. 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 lists all the things love is and isn't. As Beth Moore points out it is by God's filling of us through the Holy Spirit that we have the capability to love. People in our lives don't always love us in return the way we want to be loved and appreciated. But that's not the point is it? Christ loved us and died for us in spite of our sin and rejection of Him. 1 Corinthians 13:8 says love never fails. Love is never without an effect. It has an effect and a power whether we see it and realize it or not.

The challenge is allowing the Holy Spirit to help me love those I, in my human self, have a difficult time loving.

Lord, guide me and Holy Spirit show me how to actively and faithfully love those that "tweak my nerves."