Love is patient and kind

“Love is patient and kind” 1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is the virtue that contains all other virtues and two of the most beautiful that are enfolded in love are patience and compassion.

Patience is the ability to stay steadfast and centered no matter the provocation.  This quality of forbearance and fortitude is wonderfully expressed in the famous affirmation:   “I am centered and poised in the Christ Spirit; Nothing can disturb the calm peace of my soul”.

Just affirming this a few times brings me to a place of calm authenticity where the Christ in me speaks to the storms in my life with the assuring words, ‘Peace, be still’.

Patience doesn’t have to know the outcome to be poised.  Attentively receptive to what is, the patient heart opens to the divine flow and is able to respond compassionately to circumstance.

We are naturally kind when we remember who we are as beings of love.  We no longer allow the outer world to determine who we are because we have an inner compass that is guided by Spirit.  This Presence is generous and wants the best for all.  One of the most beautiful aspects of love expressing as kindness is our desire to uplift others.  We recognize our essential unity and we understand that any attempt to divide or separate diminishes us.  It was Jesus’ compassion that could say, in the midst of excruciating pain, ‘Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing’.

Can you demonstrate that same kind of patient and kind love?  You certainly can!  It is God’s gift to each of us and our divine commission is to embody what God has freely given.

As Valentine’s Day comes around once again contemplate the simple but powerful words of St. Paul, ‘Love is patient and kind’.  Meditate upon them and then activate those selfsame qualities in your relationships and in your life.

This week I am kind and patient with myself and others.  I forgive freely and I give thanks for the wonderful center of peace and poise at the heart of me.  God is in charge and all is well.