Love is...

Love is patient (long-suffering)

Love is kind (and sweet)

It is not jealous (does not envy)

It is not boastful (does not brag)

It is not proud (or arrogant)

It is not rude (does behave unseemingly)

It is not self-seeking (does not demand its own way)

It is not easily angered (or irritable)

It is not resentful (keeps no record of wrongs)

Love is not unjust (does not delight in evil)

But rejoices in truth (when good overcomes)

It always protects (never gives up)

It believes all things (never loses faith)

It always trusts (is always hopeful)

It always perseveres (endures all things)

Love never fails (or ends)

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

If this is what love looks like, and we're called to love others (Mark 12:31 our neighbors and Matthew 5:43-44 our enemies) then I'm falling short in loving my husband, my parents, my friends, and strangers the way God defines love. 

I particularly struggle with patience and long-suffering, pride, demanding my own way, being easily-angered, holding a record of wrongs, and always staying hopeful. 

But thankfully, God is love (1 John 4:8) and if his Spirit lives in us, then we have the love of God in us and the ability to love people like this. 

Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another"(John 13:35). 

If we love others, then we know that we have passed from death to life. Anyone who does not love remains in death (1 John 3:14). 

Whoever loves his/or her Christian brothers and sisters lives in the light, and there is nothing to cause them to stumble (1 John 2:10). 

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).