Fifth Saturday in Lent

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant . . .” 1 Corinthians 13: 4 ff

love takes its time
with those in a rush.
love is a gentle hand
instead of a slap,
love never wants
what others have,
never pats itself of the back,
never puffs itself up or
pushes others out of the way.
love lets others break in line;
it doesn’t get is knickers
in a twist over silly things
nor does it get hostile
when others bug it.
it doesn’t applaud foolishness,
and it honors factcheckers.
love carries the fallen
believes the discounted,
hopes when others mock,
sticks with others through
everything and everyone one.
nothing can stop love from loving.
not the angry words of politicians
or the pomposity of commentators,
not the long-tenured professor
or the glib-tongued salesperson.
we don’t have a clue about life
though we claim to have solved the mystery,
but when we reach the end,
it will all fall in place for us, even
the parts we skipped over.
we have been babies and toddlers,
tweeners and teenagers, thinking
we were learning all we needed,
but now we know less than we did.
we wipe the fog off the mirror
and all we see is our foolishness,
but one day we will see God’s face.
we may be preschoolers when
it comes to understanding grace,
but there will be that moment
when God hands as our diploma
whispering, ‘i never doubted you.’
all those gifts we sing about, talk about,
try to share with others are all around us,
woven together by that scarlet thread
called love

© 2022 Thom M. Shuman