The LOVE Chapter for Parents

One magazine I enjoy reading for growth as a parent, is by Focus on the Family. I just received August's, and read it outside on the lawn while my two girls were playing. It was so relaxing, especially after going through so many days of being sick. I was on a teeter-totter of emotions going from feeling merciful and compassionate to my daughters to feeling annoyed that they were taking up all my time, attention, and sleep! Anyway, I read this parents' take on I Corinthians 13, known as the Love chapter. It's too long for me to copy the whole thing, but I just wanted to share a few key passages that really resonated with me.

Love is patient when someone isn't ready to use the big girl potty. (Hannah is 2 1/2, and runs away when I suggest the potty!) It is kind when my husband has a hard day...It is not rude, snapping at my spouse or children when things don't go my way. It is not easily angered at perceived or real injustices...It always trusts God to provide my children's needs; always hopes in the freshness of tomorrow and the bright future of family, always persevers amid hardship and doubt. Where there are sleeppless night, they shall end. Where there are diapers, Little League, and dioramas built from shoeboxes, they will cease...Now these three remain: faith, lived out in my daily circumstances and installed in my children; hope, of one day rejoicing with my family in heaven; and love, which covers over a multitude of less-than-perfect moments.