Love is a verb....

Christian love: "Love is patient, love is kind.  It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude...." 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (can be found online at http://www.usccb.org/bible/scripture.cfm?bk=1%20Corinthians&ch=13; entire catholic bible (New American Bible translation) can be found online at http://www.usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible/)

Soooo, when i'm not patient, i'm not loving you, even if you're my child?  yes michael.  When i'm not being kind, i'm not loving you, even if you're my wife?  yes michael.  when i'm being jealous, arrogant, feeling superior or being rude, i'm not being loving?  even if i have a really good reason? yes michael.

yesterday someone told me that parenting is a verb.  i like that. i was thinking that 'love' is a verb also.  we all know (i think) that love is more than a feeling.  but when it comes right down to it and i'm pissed off.... -it's probably too late to be thinking rationally.  and no matter how i justify my anger, it's probably more about me than you or anything else.  my dad always said 'you can rationalize anything.'

it pains me when i see fellow christians (and sometimes it's me! ouch) impatient, unkind, jealous, pompous, arrogant and rude.  especially if they are parents or others in authority, e.g., priests, ministers and bishops....

here's what i've noticed.  when i'm being shallow and selfish, practically guaranteed i'm going to be impatient, unkind, resentful....  when i'm being 'moralistic' and 'trying' to love, i can easily fall into the antithesis of love, including feeling a little 'better than you' (yuck).  but when i'm conscious of, and grateful for the encounter i've had (and am having) with the Mystery; love, which is God, is present, and (while there may be great effort to get here) there is practically no 'effort' required to love -to 'be' loving.  perhaps kindness, patience, and humility is simply what happens when we immerse ourselves in God -in love....