Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (NIV) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (KJV) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (NAS) Most of us with a little theological training under our belt are aware that hope means “confident expectation,” rather than a hit-and-miss, “I sure hope it doesn’t rain tonight” type of belief. Even so, this “hopes all things” passage of 1 Corinthians 13 is one that could potentially leave us baffled. It seems, however, that the confident expectation that love has is similar to love believes all things. A Love that Hopes Allows Us to Parent Courageously and Confidently. In parenting, I have a confident expectation — a hope — in the promises of God as they relate to my children and myself. God has not promised that our children will turn out perfectly or even that if we follow a certain formula then we’ll get a certain product in return. (Though, of course, we must simultaneously take into account the principles of sowing and reaping, and the fact that certain situations do, in general, bring about certain results.)  For mothers of only young children, in particular, it is so easy to get caught up in the time-consuming daily rhythms that we begin to think that now is all there is for ourselves and for our children. We often go through seasons of life that seem to break us under the emotional and physical load. Seasons can be hard because they seem all-consuming and we often fall into viewing our circumstances and lives through recency bias. But seasons are just that — seasons. In the midst of such seasons, we often forget that it is not always winter; spring is coming. If our children are believers, we can have hope and be confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in our children will be faithful to continue that work until the day of Jesus Christ (paraphrase of Philippians 1:6). Along the way, God may use seasons of doubt and seasons of struggle, but in the macroscopic view of things, God is working. Others of us may view our children through a more covenant-theology framework that views God’s placing them into our families as His merciful act of placing them into a household of…

Love Believes All Things Once again, this phrase has several possible meanings, even beyond the broadness of all things. It could mean holding fast to the faith or it could having faith in what others think or say. Holding fast to the faith, referencing the Christian faith, is probably too broad of an understanding. More accurately, “believing all things” means to have an appropriate belief of and trust in other people, or even a controlled and patient acceptance of others. Even beyond this, the applications toward motherhood and loving our children are endless. Often, I have heard this applied as love believes, or assumes, the best about others. Even before our children are very old, it is easy to fall into the trap of trying to judge motives or believe we are the sole understander of the heart behind actions. Particularly in young motherhood, parents sometimes don’t remember that their children do not yet have the emotional and physical makeup to express their emotions as we expect an adult would. In a parental eagerness to squash any sign of sin or rebellion, it can become easy to judge every action (or word) as sinful, rather than remembering that children may not even have the developmental physical or mental skills to even attempt what is being demanded of them. Believe the Best of Children, Our Own and Others I have read and heard discussed several times about how our American culture has a tendency to look at a small child and focus on all the difficulties that accompany these little years, and to see negative aspects as the chief characteristics of childhood. For example, in other regions, a mother in a store with little ones in tow may be approached by strangers and ask how they can help, even if a child is crying or having a fit. Here, it’s more common for others to shake their heads or assume a child will misbehave when we see a young mom accompanied by her children. However, when we begin to assume the best of children we encounter, our paradigm slowly shifts and we can demonstrate love to both mothers and children. And as mothers, we can also choose to assume the best when we are wondering about what or child has done or said. The Paradigm-Shifting Pinched Finger Around two years ago, I was at the grocery store with my two daughters. For the most part, shopping with them…

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (NIV) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (KJV) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (NAS) Love Bears All Things Although only around a dozen words in length, these few words of 1 Corinthians 13: 7 can go a long way. In fact, the translation of “all things” alone has caused great mystery among interpreters and theological scholars. There is a lot of philosophical discussion over all the things “all things” could possibly mean. Love Like a Roof? While the possibilities are still broad when we read that love bears all things, we know that the bearing described here is intended to convey the idea of the support that a roof provides. The word “bears” is broad in the sense of helping others. As we love our children and “bear all things, ” we learn to support, protect, and cover them. We’ve often heard phrases like “love does,” “love is a verb,” or “love is active.” Those statements remind us that a loving person does loving things. There’s more to love than a smiling face and a sweet tone of voice. When Paul wrote this statement, “love bears,” he used a word that has to do with roofing. How loving is a roof? The word picture here is stunning, once we let the implications sink in. A roof covers, protects, and shelters its inhabitants. It is there to withstand pelting rain, unbearable sun rays, and even to provide privacy. A roof is a protector. That’s what love is supposed to do — protect, shield, shelter, and cover. Let’s bring that into the parenting arena for a moment. Our children need to be defended and protected. We live in a big, dangerous world. Our children are put into our care for their protection. There is sometimes an attitude toward parenting that expects kids to be tough and grow up, and there is a degree to which we need to empower our children by giving them independence, respect, and responsibility. But a three-year old might not be prepared to protect herself from dangers she isn’t even aware of, or harmful things that she can’t see. Our babies don’t learn to survive on their own by leaving them to themselves to tough it out.…

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (ESV) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (NIV) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; (KJV) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; (NASB) How does this play itself out in the life of a mother (or, really, any parent)? Not Delighting in Our Child’s Failures If we are truly acting in a loving way, we don’t gloat at opportunities to lecture or rebuke our children about their wrongdoing. If admonition and teaching is necessary, so be it, but we grieve the wrong done. There are times when we want to jump onto a misbehaving child with the “aha” eagerness to shame them for their sin, but this does not reflect the kind of love described in this chapter.  Love is empathetic. The subtle joy/grief contrast in this verse communicates empathy. True love is empathetic, that is, it feels with the object of its love. If our child is grieving, we grieve with them. If our child is joyful, we rejoice with them. We celebrate the good, and seek to abate the bad.  In another sense, this looks like a coach or personal trainer on the sidelines, rooting and cheering for the fruits of righteousness and truth as they come forth from our children’s lives, and grieving when unrighteousness and its consequences are present. Love rejoices in the truth in our children’s lives. Love rejoices. The emphasis of the verse is upon rejoicing, or joy. Joy is mentioned twice — once in the negative and once in the positive. The bottom line is this: love rejoices. Joy ought not be present in the face of unrighteousness, but at all other times — the environment of truth in which we live as Christians — there is joy. Sometimes the truth is not our desired outcome, but love rejoices. Similar to a previous discussion, sometimes the truth is that we are wrong or that we didn’t have facts correct at first. Rather than insisting on our own way, we can allow love and truth to trump our desires to feel validated or have the final word. Stretching this application a little further, sometimes the truth is also that our child has a certain God-given personality that is unlike our own or is gifted in an area that we are unfamiliar with. Instead of despising them for these…