Love Letter #2: Love is patient

On my way to my internship, I have to take the subway. To get downtown from where I live, it requires me to take two trains. In the middle of the two trains, I have to walk down a long tunnel with hundreds of people going in both directions. The other week as I was going through this tunnel, I was sporting new sandals (super-fly turquoise faux leather gladiator sandals that is). 

Since I was running late to an important meeting with the president of the organization, I thought I would strategically weave my way through the crowd; bobbing and weaving between commuters as if I were a race car to gain a few more seconds that I lost earlier that morning. Just as I was getting to the end of the tunnel with all of about 10 seconds gained, my right sandal strap broke and I was down a shoe without a replacement. Now for those of you who have never been in the New York City subway system, trust me when I say it is NOT the place where you want to go bear-foot. So I bent down, with hundreds of people passing me, and tried to create a quick fix by sticking the strap back in. I took two steps-- no such luck, the shoe was broken. 

I was late, so I bit the bullet and took off my shoe and ran to the train. I tried to fix the shoe twice more to no avail. I gave up once more and ran barefoot out of the car, on the platform where there were rats and trash and up three flights of stairs and out onto the rainy sidewalk outside. 

The entire time I ran through the subway, no one mentioned my lack of shoe. However, before I got outside, the friendly man who gives out newspapers at the subway exit asked, "what happened to your shoe?". 

The mere fact that he acknowledged my predicament and my distress when hundreds of other people had not, made me think. He seemed to be sincerely concerned, and even though he couldn't solve my problem, he blessed me to remind me that I wasn't alone. I thought about how I pass him every day and don't take his paper; how he sort of fades into the background of faces of the day. I hadn't done anything for him-- in fact I may have been rude by ignoring him some days-- but he took the time to show kindness to me.




^"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Corinthians 13:4





I'm trying to get better at learning how to love.

How many times do we give undeserved kindness in our busy days? Who knows how it could bless someone! I was definitely all about my own agenda that day, with plenty of pride about the opportunity He gave me, and the position He put me in; but God made me pause-- in a dramatic way. When I stopped and looked around, I saw that God was still showing me love despite my pride: He showed me through the kindness of the man with the newspapers who kept no record of my wrongs towards him; He showed me through the patience the Holy Spirit gave me to go to three stores in the rain, with one shoe to find some new shoes; He showed me by allowing the rain to fall and wash away much of the dirt and grime that would have normally been on the street, beneath my bear foot; and He showed me through a series of small miracles that allowed me to be on time to the meeting (one of which was having a shoe store open before 8:30 in the morning :)).

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

1 Corinthians 13:4

God is love. And He's patient with me as I learn how to show love better. Everyday. Pray with me that we might show other people love in patience as He is patient with us, each and every day.


Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.^{1 John 4:8}