"Faith, hope, and love remain; receive these three, but the greatest of these is love.”*
And what is love?**
“ Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast;
It is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
It is not irritable or resentful;
It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
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.”**
The greatest gift you can give your children and family is love.
Dealing with loss is difficult, even the kind of losses of Caesar.
Though in those losses, we can get caught up in differences, disappointments, and blame;
However, if we lose sight of the greatest gift of love during troubled times we will lose the gift and the resilience that comes with love.
True resilience does not come from false bravado or hate but from love.
How do we know this?
If you were to fast forward to the end of your life, and what is there is what matters the most in your life, not what matters least.
Will it matter to you then, in the end, who won or lost what game or even who the villains or heroes were of those games?
What will you even remember as you draw your last breath?
If, as in the poem “If”, we have the character to withstand Disaster and Triumph and treat those two imposters the same;
“If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:”**
Then you will have the resilience to endure and to stand strong, stand up, and stand tall.
The light within ourselves will remain regardless of disasters or triumphs because the light within us is granted by the Lord, not any one person or anything of Caesar (or any external losses or gains of power).
Our purpose in life is to be stewards of the earth, not to be a king or queen or any officer of Caesar, because everything belongs to the Lord.***
And we are to fulfill our purpose by using our talents wisely in the service of the Lord.****
And remember that the greatest of the gifts is the gift of love.
Therefore, strive and work to receive love’s blessings, and give the gift of love to your children, family, and humanity.
Because in the end, love and the gift of love are what truly matters.*
*1 Corinthians 13:13, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
**1 Corinthians 13:4–8
**Poem If by Rudyard Kipling.
***Genesis 2:15 states, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and keep it (serve and protect it).”;
Genesis 1:28:
“...fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground”;
Colossians 3:23-24:
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
Psalm 24:1: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it".
****Matthew 25:14-30 (Parable of the Talents):
This parable emphasizes using one's abilities and resources wisely to serve and produce positive results for the Lord.
