Daily Worship

Reflection

January 06, 2013 0 0

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

​If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

​Lord,

When I look in the mirror

I see a reflection

but it’s not the me

I want to be.

I hide my shape

My feelings

My hurt

My disappointment

My anger

My love

My innermost dreams

I lock them all away.

I hide ‘me’

I’m afraid

to look at the real me.

I act as though I was

my own personal terrorist.

I’m my own worst enemy.

You see everything, Lord,

nothing is hidden from you.

Help me

see myself

as others see me.

Then, give me the courage

To face my own reality.

To recognise my faults

To change my moods

To speak the right words

To curb my tongue

To look outside myself

To see the needs of others

To use my hidden

anger

fear

disappointment

and love

to serve your creation.

To serve You.

Teach me to be a servant

rather than a saboteur.