Each day last week leading up to Valentine’s Day, on Twitter and Facebook, I posted “Love’s Finest Moments” #lovesfinestmoments – a sentence describing how love is best expressed. Those tweets/posts are listed below, followed by several others that I hadn’t yet posted:
#Love’sFinestMoments:
(1) When you don’t feel like being patient, thoughtful, generous & kind and you do it anyway.
(2) When you forgive a hurtful offense because the future relationship matters more than your present pain.
(3) When you overlook the 2% that irritates you because you so appreciate the 98% that inspires you
(4) When you give sacrificially of self without expecting favored treatment or any reciprocation.
(5) When after decades of familiarity you still treat the other with the respect, tenderness and admiration.
(6) When you sacrifice time, money and energy for another’s good knowing they will probably never discover it.
(7) When you set aside the immediate interest and listen patiently even though it doesn’t seem to really matter.
(8) When you are so comfortable being together that you can sit in silence without feeling awkward or bored. You’re just comfortable.
Some additional #lovesfinestmoments:
When you put the welfare of those with no status on the same level as those who can enhance your image.
When you resist an intense temptation to betrayal because, like Joseph, you, “can’t do this thing & sin against God”.
When you stand up for the other when they’re not present at the risk of losing influence.
When you put the welfare of one who will “love you regardless” above the one whose love is conditional.
When, at the risk of looking foolish, you make yourself completely vulnerable for the sake of a more intimate relationship.
When you express a serious disagreement without exaggerating the offense or getting historical.
When you stand behind the scenes and applaud when the spotlight is focused on the one you love.
When you sense outside pressures threatening your relationship and you make an immediate adjustment to refocus on what matters most.
The very best description of love
While I struggled to describe love in a series of eight sentences, the Apostle Paul described it more succinctly and more effectively in fewer words,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)