Speed of Love

I was at my brother’s church recently, and the pastor was preaching about unity as a church, but it was one point in between that stuck with me. 

The pastor was talking about the importance of empathy, and taking time for other people. He touched on the point that we all know so well about our world functioning too fast and how fast we, as the body of Christ, should be functioning. He said we should be functioning at a speed in which God can use us, and if God is love (1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”), then we should be functioning at the speed of love. 

The speed of love . . . those words have not been far from my mind for almost 2 weeks now. What is the speed of love? At what speed do I have to function in order to show love to people. How does that look in my life?

I thought of my everyday life and all the things that I do. One thing that came to mind was grocery shopping. What does it mean to move at the speed of love while shopping? Does that mean stopping to help someone get something off the shelf? Does that mean letting someone else go in front of you in line? Does that mean opening a door for someone? Does that mean being patient with a slow or grouchy cashier? And that is just at the grocery store!

What about the speed of love in my relationships? I thought about my husband and my toddler. With my husband it is stopping cooking to greet him when he comes in the door from work. It means taking time out of the to-do list for a chat, or a kiss. With my son, it means allowing him to function at the speed of a three year old, and patiently encouraging him rather than rushing him at my speed. It means taking time to appreciate and teach the little things even if that means that I don’t get as much other stuff done.

Functioning at the speed of love often requires deep listening; it requires allowing myself to think and function at the speed where someone else’s need is at. The speed of love is moving at the speed that Jesus did. Seeing everyone as a person and not a pawn in his day, acting in love towards them, and speaking words of encouragement to them! 

Easier said than done in my journey . . . how about you?

Kourtnay