Love is a verb

My son has this new saying. “Mom do you know what I do? I DO love you!”

I love it. It so very accurately portrays love as an action verb. Which I have come to realize, it is.

I also work for an organization where the motto really is “Love is a verb”, further defined in a way I think we are meant to compare to the fruits of the Spirit: Patient, humble, respectful, honest, kind, selfless, forgiving, committed.

This means it is my job to love people. Can I tell you how wonderful it is to go to work and pray that during my shift I can best show love to the people I am serving?! On my drive, I make a choice. To love when it’s hard.

And for the first time I really get Paul’s message in Corinthians. It is not that love is patient or kind. It is that when you DO love; patience IS the love. Kindness is the love. When you forget the wrongs, you are DOING the love. It's hard to put it into words, but there is a difference in loving passively and DOING love.

Love is a verb. It isn’t simply something you feel. It is something you DO. Your words speak it. Your actions express it. Your choices show it. Your kids simply do it. I don’t think they have to think about it – it’s what they are built for. As we get older, it becomes harder. That’s why we get such a list from Paul. We need to remember. We need to focus on that list of “is’s” and the “is nots” and remember we must DO or DO NOT them 😊. Not just feel them. We must choose to actively participate in (or avoid) them every day:

DO patience

DO kindness

DO NOT give into envy

DO NOT boast

DO NOT be proud

Do NOT self seek

DO NOT be easily angered

DO NOT remember the wrongs

DO NOT delight in evil

DO rejoice in the truth

Will you join me in this DOING of love?