On a TEC retreat Erin and I attended a few years back, a speaker giving a meditation shared with us a pretty amazing reflection activity, based on a passage from 1 Corinthians 13. You’ve all heard this passage dozens of times, probably at weddings, mostly:
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-8b
For the activity, the speaker gave us all a copy of that scripture text, but one in which the pronouns could be changed to “he” or “she” and a blank line was provided in place of each instance of the word, “love”. We were then encouraged to personalize it. So, mine looked like this:
Shannon is patient, Shannon is kind. He is not jealous, [Shannon] is not pompous, Shannon is not inflated, He is not rude, He does not seek his own interests, he is not quick-tempered, he does not brood over injury, he does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Shannon never fails.
The speaker then asked us to sit a while with the completed activity, pondering just how well each of us felt we measured up to this description of what love truly is. Needless to say, every one of us knew we had a lot of work to do. I mean, I think I’m pretty patient unless you are one of my children and we’re trying to get to school on time. Likewise, most people would probably call me a kind person, but my occasional political assessments on social media, particularly ones regarding the current U.S. president, would suggest that maybe I’m not kind all the time. And, we’re not even going to talk about jealousy.
I have found this exercise to be particularly helpful to me over the years, especially as I attempt to do what Jesus said and love the Lord, my God, with all my heart, with all my being, with all my strength, and with all my mind, and my neighbor as myself. (from Luke 10:27).
Maybe you will find it helpful too. Try it!
_____ is patient,
_____ is kind.
He/She is not jealous,
[_____] is not pompous,
_____ is not inflated,
He/She is not rude,
He/She does not seek his/her own interests,
he/she is not quick-tempered,
he/she does not brood over injury,
he/she does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
He/She bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
_____ never fails.
-Shannon