Good and bad alike.
It burns in my soul.
That I was such a failure.
That I could not
See and be seen
Hear and be heard
Know and be known
Love and be loved
as others do.
The normal ups and downs of life--
That I have never felt.
That I have never known.
That I have seen only darkly as through a glass
And never face-to-face.
Dear God,
Help me see.
Help me push aside the veil.
The veil of fear
The veil of frustration
The veil of indifference
And even the veil of false hope.
Remind me that you knit every part of me
And that you will use my brokenness
To make whole the broken.
The Good Book says that
If I do not love my brothers and sisters,
I do not love You.
If I do not love You,
I cannot love others as fully as You would have me do.
Dear God, I want to love.
Extravagantly, as you have loved me.
Amen.
We love because he first loved us. [1 John 4:19]
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. [1 John 4:20]
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. [1 Cor. 13:3, NIV]
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. [1 Cor. 13:12, KJV]
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. [1 Cor. 13:13, The Message]]