God's Love Through Me

1 Corinthians 13 NIV

¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, 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. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

A dear friend of mine told me to read this passage and reminded me that I can't love like this. I can not. My love for others is flawed at best. When I try to love others in my own strength, I end up wearing myself down, because no matter how hard I try, I don't have selfless love.

God has that kind of love; without His Holy Spirit inside of me I'm just a "resounding gong or a clanging cymbal". I am a moon with no light of my own, and when I live with that in mind, I can show true love to those around me.

God's Love Through Me 2/29/12

I write the word “Love”.

Do I know what it means?

I strive to show love

But I have none within me.

I can't love like You,

For I'm too empty.

My love is human,

I need Your love

Guiding me.

I go through motions,

Trying to love like You.

I pour my words out

But they shatter lifeless.

There's no way I'll conquer;

When I try it breaks me.

I need to give up;

There's no love

Inside me.

I can't love like You,

For no love is in me.

I don't have the power,

Here I am shaking.

I finally see

That any love in me is from You.

When I keep trying

To love on my own

I fall helpess.

I've given up on love,

The kind that drips from me.

I need Your kind of love

The kind that floods as a tide.

On my own I've got nothing,

With You as the center

Love is inside me again.

I can reach with open arms

With love from You.

 I Am A Moon 3/4/2012

My light went

Dim again.

I don't know where it went.

When did it

Start to fade?

I feel so tired within.

I reach my

Words and try to be

A light for You

Today.

Yet I don't feel a love

Inside

Just a brokenness

And pride tightening.

The more I try

To reach

The darker seems my

View.

Why do I feel

Empty,

If I'm trying to show Your love?

Then You remind, I'm just

A moon

Without light of my

Own.

I have pushed Your glory

Aside

While trying to love in my strength.

My love

Is nothing

If You aren't within me.

My flawed efforts,

Desires,

Feelings and

Frustrations

Must be surrendered

So I can

Truly love.

Giving up my will

Is hard

But You have asked it

Of me.

So here is my love:

Please wrap it in Yours

So I can shine

With a hope and

Love

That defies

All human reason,

To bring You praise.

~ZA

This is how I wrote most of the first poem: I sang, rambled, went flat, and had "someone" talking in the backround. 

Heart Shaped Tree Stump: LINK
Copyright © 2012 Ophelia M. Flowers