In a couple of months, I will celebrate 25 years of marriage with my husband. I love him more today than yesterday. It’s true. It hasn’t been easy. And at times it’s been a real struggle. And while the struggle is real, so is God.
We decided to take a short trip to Maine a little earlier than our anniversary date. After all, who wants to go to Maine in late November? We had booked a 5:05 AM flight and when we got to the counter to check in, we were told that it had been cancelled and that we had been rescheduled on an 8:00 AM flight. We looked at each other through blurry eyes and after cleaning out our ears, we discovered that we had heard correctly. Our 5:05 AM flight had been cancelled. To make it clear, it is 3:30 AM, we aren’t fully awake, and neither is the airport. “We received no email or text notifying us of this change,” I explained to the agent at the counter. To which my loving husband replied, “Maybe you did. You haven’t checked your emails yet.” How he missed my “if looks could kill” expression is beyond me. I’m chalking it up to God being in the room.
I think our children would have been proud of us though because the two of us made a pact to not let this 3-hour set-back ruin our trip. We made the best of our time in the deserted airport and finally got a cup of coffee around 6 o’clock. The rest of the trip was wonderful. The harbor view from our hotel room was spectacular. The history of the town was interesting, and the shops were intriguing. We had our hearts set on whale watching but the storms from Hurricane Dorian prevented that from happening, but we did take a boat tour to see the lighthouses in this part of Maine. And it was on that tour that we also saw five bald eagles, a few porpoises, and many seals playing in the water.
While we had a great time exploring parts of Maine and the Acadia National Park, my favorite part of the trip was an intimate moment with my 
husband. We were sitting next to each other doing our devotionals. The cool breeze from the rainy morning crept into the room through the open door. When we looked up from our Bibles, we caught each other’s eyes. He reached over and slid his hand into mine and prayed to the Father. I felt so loved. Isn’t God’s love great? It’s only through Him that my husband and I have come to love each other in the way we do.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have 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 do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
I speak nothing, I am nothing, I gain nothing if I do not have love. This passage sums up the details that God is sharing with us in so many other places in the Bible.
The Bible goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 13:4-10, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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 completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”
How can we know what love is if we don’t know what it’s not?
And the rest of 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 says, “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 the ways of childhood behind me. For now, we see only a 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.”
Now, I see a reflection. Now I know in part. Now three things remain. Even when things don’t go as expected. Even when the storms come, I have faith, hope and love. God is real. Then, when I get to Heaven, I will see Him face to face. Then I will know fully. And then I will know the greatest of these, for God is love. 1 Corinthians 13:12
Blessings y’all.
CHM Contributor
Annette Burrell
