Love always fails

Does your heart, like mine, long to be loved?

Sometime last spring I started seeing the theme of “LOVE” pop up in decorating stores on pillows and wall art. Phrases like “all we need is love” or “love never fails.”

When I think of this in terms of romantic love between husband and wife it makes me cringe. Odd response, I know. But you see, I don’t think love is all we need, not our human love for each other anyway. Human love will inevitably fail us.

I think of the times Henry and I have disappointed one another over the last 20 years. Like any normal relationship there have been times where we really hit this love thing out of the park and other times where we’ve fouled out. When I see these phrases I see the lie we feed ourselves that all we need for happiness is another person and the feeling they give us.

The only way for me not to cringe when I see these sayings is to take them back to the original source. “Love never fails” originated from the pen of Paul in his letter to the believers in Corinth (recorded in the Bible). John tells us that “God is Love.” It’s when I put this phrase in its proper meaning that I know that the love that Christ has for us never, ever fails.

That gives me hope.

I Corinthians 13: 8, 1 John 4:8