Today's Lenten Meditation: Building Relationships through Love

Building Relationships through Love:

The Christ Church Youth Perspective

Paul gives us a clear template for doing just that in his letter to the Corinthians, and in 1 Corinthians 13 v1-7 he describes the type of Love God calls us to, calling out the hollowness of acting without love, no matter how amazing the action.

In Youth Formation Class, we talked about Love and about how we might retell the lessons of Paul today.

If I put people down, gossip, or speak about them behind their backs, or pretend to be supportive while actually being overly critical and condensing, I do not act with love. If I lie or don’t show my true self, or do not allow others to be themselves around me, I do not act with love. If I do not listen to others or act dismissively towards them, if I do not value their relationship or put conditions on my love, I do not act with love. If I do not respect other people’s boundaries, only take from a relationship, or cause other to fear me, I do not act with love.

Love is kindness, trust, honesty, and transparency. Love is a balanced connection between people, giving and taking fairly, respecting boundaries, accepting each other for who they are. Love is sacrifice, it is putting in time and effort to truly care, listening without judgement and working to understand each other with clear, honest communication. Love is selfless, it is caring for someone else no matter what, despite how you feel in the moment. Love is a feeling of warmth, of acceptance, of connection when you know someone truly cares for you, but it is also an action in that we actively play our part in completing the relationship. Love is easy when it is with a family member or someone we already know and have a strong connection with, but love is much harder when we do not know the person well, or worse, that person has hurt us in some way.

Still, we strive to love.

~ submitted by Stacey Frith & the Christ Church Youth