What the world needs now is ……………………..?
You could fill this sentence in with a lot of different words; but as the popular song goes, the most powerful missing word would be love. Love is defined in a variety of ways. This 2022 Valentine season, I am re-visiting two excellent definitions of love that you may be familiar with. There are variations of the text depending on which biblical version you read; but they all mean the same thing.
1 Corinthians, 13:4-8
“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. Love never ends, as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So, faith hope, love abide, these three; but the great of these is love. “
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Ernest Holmes – Science of Mind Textbook, Pg. 478 (John 13:34, 351)
“Love is an essence, an atmosphere, which defies analysis, as does Life Itself. It is that which IS and cannot be explained: it is common to all people, to all animal life, and evident in the response of plants to those who love them. Love reigns supreme over all.
The essence of love, while elusive, pervades everything, fires the heart, stimulates the emotions, renews the soul and proclaims the Spirit. Only love knows love and love knows only love. Words cannot express its depths or meaning. Love is the ultimate healing force.”
Happy Valentine’s Day!