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This year we are seeking to LOVE. Live Our Values Inside and Out. Each week I am asked to write this pastors corner I want to take the time to talk about what this means and I hope that you will take the journey along with me. We use the same word to talk about our affection for our spouse, our favorite drink from Starbucks, and the way we feel about God. There are dozens of ways we use one of the most important words —and actions—in our day-to-day lives. It’s no wonder we struggle with feeling like we should be a better mom, father, wife, husband, friend, sibling, and coworker. We know we’re to love the people God has placed in our lives, but how? If I love someone less than my latte but more than my favorite shoes, is that good? If we’re loving our new purse but are impatient, unkind, rude, and arrogant toward the people we live with, we’re not loving at all. Love is hard when we don’t understand what true love is and where it comes from. Despite our best intentions and efforts to love others we fail if we are not willing to try and do the following :

Love bears all things—the unexpected project, the pile of shoes inside the front door, the worst of our family’s actions.
Love believes—that God created us to be loyal, to believe in others and expect the best of them, and to be capable of more love than we could ever imagine.
Love hopes—even when the shouts of “should” are the loudest, the doubts are the strongest, the hurts are the most painful.
Love endures—because the grace, mercy, and kindness we show others comes from the One who is love, not from a place of obligation.

”Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.“ 1 Cor 13:4-7 NLT

If I say that I want to live the value of love as a part of living my values inside and out then these things written to us in the Word are the things that God is calling me and all of us to do. Hard as that might be I need to make every effort to follow through and do my part in the quest and expression of Love. So that means loving others more than my coffee or my pocket book. Loving like God loved me.