Daily Devotionals

Glimpses of God’s Love in People Around You

Posted in Loneliness/Relationships

“Love is patient, love is kind. … It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4, 7-8

 

My relationships are the most important aspect of my life.  It’s within these relationships I have seen glimpses of God’s love.    

 

I’ve always felt loved by people around me, but I’ve learned about love best through difficult times.  It’s easy to love when things are going well.  But the true test– you can really understand the way you feel about someone or how they feel about you when hurt comes into play, and they’re still there for you, and you for them.  Love never fails.

 

Today’s scripture is a description of how God loves us.  This is also our goal as humans, because we are sinners and not always perfect examples of what love is.  Even in important relationships with others, we can be jealous, selfish, hot-headed, or unforgiving.  

 

In the end, there’s nothing more important than relationships.  And in the end, love wins; it never fails.  God is always forgiving, always trustworthy, always truthful.  God is love.  And God gives us opportunities to practice that kind of love through our relationships with others.  He also gives us tiny glimpses of Himself through others.  

 

Love always hopes.  I saw a glimpse of God in a hospital room this past summer.  My grandfather, who I call Pop, was very sick.  Doctors didn’t know how to heal him, so during those months in the hospital, hope seemed to be fading.  But my mom, aunts, and Baba stood beside him day and night, never leaving his side.  And they’d say to him, “You’ll be out of here soon.  Soon we’ll be going to Pawleys Island.”  Those words were said to my Pop, but I heard them too; I heard hope.  I saw endless amounts of hope in my mom and aunts and grandmother– even when they didn’t get any sleep.  God gave them energy to stay hopeful. That was a glimpse of God for me.  

 

Love always protects. At the end of Summer, the doctors decided to try surgery on Pop, and he finally began to heal.  At Thanksgiving around the table, we told him stories of what happened in the hospital– like how, in his hallucinations, he was always cracking open imaginary peanuts and tossing the shells– and he didn’t remember any of it.  Pop said that was one way God was protecting him; he had no memory of all the pain he was in.  Love always protects.  This also makes me think of my dad and brothers who make me feel safe and supported completely.  In them, too, I’ve seen glimpses of God’s love.  

 

Love always trusts.  I’m so grateful for my friends, who I can trust fully.  With them, I can be vulnerable, because I know I can trust them with my heart.  I can say things to them and not feel judged.  

 

And even more importantly, I can trust God completely.  He loves me even when I mess up.  I know I can go to him in prayer, ask for forgiveness and he loves me still.  Or when something bad happens, I can trust that if I keep my eyes on God, he’ll pull me through no matter what.     

 

I’m so grateful for God teaching me how to love, and I’m grateful to him for putting people along my path to show me glimpses of his perfect, unfailing love.  Do you also see glimpses of God’s love in others around you?

 

Prayer:  Lord, thank You for loving us so perfectly, so that we’ll turn around and love others well. Amen.  

 

Submitted by Anna Young Bennett.