Love; The Journey

So much for love to hope for, pray for, and celebrate!

Love is not a feeling, 

but a fulltime labor of compassion, courage, correction and grace!

Love is ever learning and never lazy.

Love is God poured out, in/ through us!

His  loving grace is sufficient for the charge!

1 John 4:7-12

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, 

and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, 

that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us 

and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, 

God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

1 Cor.13:7-8

Love...bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.

Love never fails.

I believe in loving the journey 

but an apt twist to this quote would be

Love is the Journey

Love hurts with those who hurt

And laughs with those who laugh

Its noble motive seeks the worth

Of fellowman’s behalf

It hopes and prays and cares

And does not weigh the price

But with a heart of mercy bears

The yoke of sacrifice

Love does not seek its own

Agendas; love is kind

It sets a stable stepping stone

For those foll’wing behind

It heeds earnest rebuke

Love does not boast or lie

Unprejudiced, humble and true

Love measures thought’s reply

Love mourns with those who mourn

And sings with those who sing

Love shares the rose and bears the thorn

Without self-pitying

Love lights joy’s candlestick

Love never, never fails

When grief’s sickle cuts to the quick

God, who IS love prevails

Incarnate and Enough

The Vine sustains the branch

Apart from God, love is not love

But hell's hopeless romance

Love transcends circumstance

Mercy's unthwarted grail

Outpours, in constant sustenance

The love that cannot fail

So, Love the journey Here

With humble, holy laud

Because love is the journey, dear

Back to love's birthplace; 

God

© Janet Martin

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. 

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 

apart from me you can do nothing.

1 Cor.13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.