As we move through our lives becoming the Beloved, we release control over how Love will change us, or where Love will lead us. We are learning to trust the One who calls us Beloved. We have been created for this Love.
We also become more willing to let go of all that is not love. The qualities of love, outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, can seem a challenge to our egos, that seek to justify and excuse all the times we are less than loving. But the fleeting and glittery promises of self-promotion cannot compare with the eternal essence of Love where all are blessed.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-8:
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
Blessing for the end of Week 2 of Lent:
May you go
with the protection of God
who made you for wholeness,
the encompassing of Christ
who calls you beloved,
the grace of the Spirit
who bids us as one.
(from Jan Richardson, "In the Sanctuary of Women," p. 296.)
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