L.O.V.E.

Love. 

What a funny little word.

Love. 

Such a simple word, yet, it is so complex. 

People tend to make "love" mean something different than what it truly is. 

Recently, I've been hearing a lot about love in different religious talks and homilies and I wasn't sure why, but I wanted to know more about the love that the Sisters and Priests were talking about. 

And this is what I have discovered.

Story time with Rachel: 

For a while now, I have been striving to find the best way to grow closer to God because I want to be as close to Him as I possibly can. 

I was sitting in a small chapel a few weeks ago with my Bible in my lap and I was flipping through the pages...I knew I wanted to find something but I didn't know what. 

But then I found it. 

"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."

((1 John 4:16)) 

I thought to myself, "Okay..I want God to abide in me but in order to do that I need to love and be love to the other people around me!!"

How in the world could I do that???

Well kids, this is what I found.

"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

((1 Corinthians 13:4-7))

And with those two verses, everything clicked. I had a spiritual lightbulb moment. It was literally like....DUH. It just made sense. 

In order for God to truly abide in us, we need to become this love. The patient love. This hoping love. This rejoicing love. This enduring love. 

It seems so simple doesn't it?

However, as sinners, we all know that being this kind of love is a daily challenge. 

Love isn't easy. 

I strive to be this love every day. But it's hard for me. I'm stubborn, I still fight with my siblings, I get irritated, I become impatient. 

Again, love isn't easy. 

But that doesn't mean we can't at least try. 

And when push comes to shove and it's hard for me to be that love, I just think of the greatest example of love. 

Kids, God sent his only beloved son down to earth to die like a criminal upon a cross full of splinters and with a crown of thorns dug into his head. He died for each and everyone of us. He died for the sins we would commit. He is our Salvation. 

Because of that sacrifice, it has been made possible for all of us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. 

That is love. 

And it's not going to be a walk in the park. 

We need to sacrifice ourselves to others like Christ did for us. 

We need to be His willing followers and show that love to everyone around us. 

This, my friends, is what I discovered in that little chapel. 

As my National Speech and Debate tournament approaches this week, I am ready to be that love and to make sacrifices if necessary. 

I am going to be patient and kind. I will not be jealous or boastful. I will not be arrogant or rude. I will not insist on my own way. I won't be irritable or resentful. I will not rejoice at wrong, but instead, I will rejoice in the right. I will bear all things, believe all things, hope in all things, and endure all things. 

Cause that is love. And whoever abides in love, abides in God....and God in Him.

And what more could you want?