My favorite scripture is three simple words: “Love never fails.” It’s in 1 Corinthians 13, after the paragraph you usually hear at weddings: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast…”
It may be three simple words but it’s anything but shallow. Sure, love comes easily when I’m feeling love-y. But when I’m not, love doesn’t come naturally at all.
Those three words speak volumes to me because of what they don’t say. They imply that anything negative will fail me. Anger will fail me. Resentment will fail me. Holding a grudge will fail me. Unforgiveness will fail me. Avoiding someone will fail me.
But love – poured on a hard situation, shown when someone’s expecting hate, or fueling prayers toward a person I “should” be wanting to despise – will never fail me.
I trust those words because I know from experience how all of the other options have failed me in the past.
Love is the one ticket out of difficulty that can change everything. Turning it into a knee-jerk reaction takes time and habit trained on those three words. While the outcome of loving may not be immediate, the word “never” guarantees that things will be good in the end.
Oh, how I love a good outcome.
