A Mother's Take on 1 Corinthians

It’s been a tough month for us with my “baby sickness” and Dan working every day and on call almost every other day. Sometimes this makes us question exactly why we’re here and what we’re doing. It’s easy to look at others and think they have it a lot simpler. There is a great family that lives on our compound with a husband/dad who is a teacher at the Nate Saint Memorial School. I think, “Why couldn’t Dan be like him?”: home by five every day, no work on the weekend, no night shifts, all holidays off, and an entire summer to spend with the family. But…God didn’t call Dan to be a teacher or me to be the wife of a teacher. Are Dan and I any more holy because he works more hours; no way. Dan and our teacher friend are both being obedient to what God has called them to do. We want to be obedient to what God has called us to be and do right here and now, and we want to do it in love. Remembering to be obedient in love can sure change my attitude when I’m spending another night solo with cranky kids, iffy electricity, and a very queasy stomach.

Kristina’s Take on 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

“If I can speak in baby language and talk all day to a three year with no adult interaction, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift to know “who started it” and can fathom all childhood illness mysteries and possess all the answers to a preschoolers many questions, and if I have faith that can move piles of dirty laundry, toys, and food-caked dishes, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all the energy I possess to doing sticky crafts and building blanket forts, and I surrender my body to stretch marks and morning sickness (24 hours a day) but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind, even at 2:00 in the morning. Love is not jealous of other people’s lives or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, though everything in the day can seem irritating. It keeps not record of being wronged, or messes made, or numbers of hours spent on the floor playing. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects the children God has given me to care for, always trust that God can give me the grace I need for this day, always hopes that tomorrow can be better, always perseveres.”