Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. – I Peter 4:8
This morning I dragged myself out of bed twenty minutes earlier than I normally do to just be quiet with a cup of coffee in front of the fireplace.
Next to me on the side table was our Orthodox Study Bible. Having become more convinced than ever in my middle age that nothing is accidental, I took this as an invitation to break it open – something I should be doing regularly but haven’t.
The above verse from I Peter was part of today’s scripture reading. I sat there with it and meditated on its significance for a moment.
How unambiguous it is. Love and mercy trump everything: being right, being vindicated, being safe and inconvenienced, being sucessful. Even the overwhelming burden of our own habitual sinfulness cannot thwart them.
Where do I start? How do I proceed, being so broken, anxious about the future, hopelessly imperfect and all?
By being as loving, giving, patient as possible with the person right in front of me in gratitude of Christ’s unconditional compassion toward us.
I daresay, everything else then will fall into place as it mysteriously and redemptively should.
At least that’s what I’m banking on, forsaking my biases, short-sighted expectations and jealousy of my time in the process.
“However hard I try, I find it impossible to construct anything greater than these three words, ‘Love one another’ —only to the end, and without exceptions: then all is justified and life is illumined, whereas otherwise it is an abomination and a burden.”
- Mother Maria of Paris
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Molly,
I love your writing style. Text interspersed with pictures that have no comment. It speaks of the ineffable nature of truth that even a good picture cannot fully capture. Doxology of the One who is Truth can be the only ultimate response to such beauty.
Thank you, Aaron! Your beautiful words mean a lot to me, truly.
I am so tired and nursing a sore throat and this just makes me so teary. Thank you for the beautiful photos- what gifts we have been given in our children- and for the reminder that all this is needed is to love one another. Love to you.
I love that quote from Mother Maria. These photos are beautiful on so many levels. It started me thinking about how even a hundred years ago it would have been strange to see two little girls with differing skin tones in a photograph together. Beautifully done!
Thanks for this. I so admire Maria of Paris!
Once again, Molly, you’ve brought me to tears. Thank you for a beautiful reminder.