Love Wins

For much of my adult life, I had some grave misconceptions about love and its influence on people around me. Barely out of my teens, I was headed bravely out into the world of classroom teaching, thinking much as Maria did (the novitiate turned nanny in The Sound of Music). “I will be firm but kind and all those children, heaven bless them, they will look up to me and mind me.” That was the first major upset, followed by a number of other life experiences, when I found love “didn’t work.” And the reason I was surprised and disappointed is that I thought love would produce a positive, expected outcome! After all, hadn’t I read in the Bible that “love never fails”?

I still believe that love never fails, but I’ve learned a more realistic view. Love never fails in the sense that Love doesn’t quit. There is not always a happy ending with everyone smiling. Many years ago, in some literature class, I learned Edwin Markham’s poem, “Outwitted”:

He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

There may have been no reconciliation, no deepened friendship, no outward change at all. But Love won anyway, because it was stronger than the other’s anger or distance. “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful . . . “ (I Corinthians 13:7) It is invincible, because the “other” cannot make you or me stop loving.

Another mistaken belief was the interpretation that I gave to the conclusion of the passage above, often translated as “endures all things.” I took this to mean love puts up with anything, gives everything, and expects nothing. That led me to mistrust my reasoned judgment, ignore my feelings, and discount my plans and purposes simply because they were my own. A better rendering is “endures through every circumstance.” In other words, Love lasts. It goes on loving when things are moving smoothly; it goes on loving when it’s tough going. It is there when relationships bring disagreement, disappointment, or discouragement, and it is there when they bring delight and edification. Love itself is enduring. When we are in the eternal presence of God who is Love, hope will become reality and faith will become sight. Love will still be love. Love wins!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotation is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com