1 Corinthians 13:8a NLT

'Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!'

I believe that God’s love for me is never-ending. I appreciate that the decisions I need to take in response to love may not appear to be in my own self-interest. Hence, while I would like the accolade of saint for having accompanied Katey through her journey with MS, it wasn’t that I didn’t consider absconding when the pressure and isolation became too intense.

God hangs in with us when our attitudes, choices and behaviours may greatly disappoint him. Equally he invites us to hang in with him when his love has a strange way of revealing itself in our life’s experience. I am increasingly invested in the stories of those who have endured some horrendous experience, yet have found the courage and capacity to turn this reversal into a motivation for continuing with life, and if anything, living harder.

Love which is so often presented as something of an emotion with a soft centre is in fact a solid steel backbone that affords me the opportunity to live on purpose. That purpose is God’s, whose invitation is that I discover him at its very heart. My Christian life has flip-flopped on numerous occasions, yet now I see more clearly through the maturing eyes of faith that my call is simply to honour God and keep going.

I’ve been in some trouble with a long-standing friend, and he’s withdrawn a little distance currently, because I have found myself talking positively about death. I feel as if I am on the final leg of life and, without in any way minimising the acute pain of those literally at death’s door, never has life made more sense or God more real. I am excited and at peace. It’s a most glorious place to be, despite the ongoing challenges of daily living.

QUESTION: In what ways are you experiencing God’s love?

PRAYER: Lord God, thank you that your love is faithful, that your love never ends and stretches beyond the grave.