Love Never Fails

Posted byannievogelPosted inFamily, Life LessonsTags:, , , ,

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,

it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

For we know partially and we prophesy partially,

but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

I used to hate this passage. So overused. So over-hyped. So mainstream. So romanticized.

But I have heard it in Mass three times in the past two months. It’s like an earworm. Two weddings and then Sunday Mass. The third time is a charm I guess because the words finally sank in this past Sunday.

As a proud former Catholic school student (literally from nursery school all the way through my senior year of college), I was always taught that this passage is about God. God is Love. And as easy a Truth that is to accept, I somehow still was not ever fully satisfied with that answer. And then I took a Christian Marriage class in college, and I learned to read it in the context of romantic Love. Still, I was not satisfied.

Isn’t Love so much more than that? It’s easy to say God is Love. It’s easy to say that spouses love each other. But what does that mean? Perhaps there isn’t a solid answer to this. I truthfully don’t trust anyone who claims to have the answer, but if there is anything that my small corner of the world has taught me, it has taught me that Love is…

Well, I can certainly tell you what Love is NOT. Love is not flaky. Love is not being mistreated. Love is not being placed on a pedestal. Love is not, “I would die for you.” Love is not superficial. Love is not betrayal. Love is not “busy.” Love is not empty words. Love is not manipulation. Love is not mean. Love is not hard-hearted. Love is not weak. Love is not lies. Love is not disappointing. Love will never leave you feeling completely and utterly alone.

Love, for me, is sharing life with others – not only in ecstatic joy but also in grave sorrow, and everything in between. Love is, “I want to live for you.” Love is finding the time despite being busy. Love is showing up. Love is strong. Love is power. Love is seeing nature – flowers blooming in the spring, leaves changing in autumn, a river chasing a sunset – and wanting nothing more than to just have someone else look at it with me. Love is not feeling crammed at a crowded dinner table, but rather, feeling close and cozy. Love is one too many drinks with the group because we are having the time of our lives making memories. Love is knowing that I have a home in my family up and down the east coast, and even overseas. Love is watching my friend’s eyes sparkle when she sees her favorite color. Love is FaceTime calls and phone calls across time zones with friends from college whom I miss dearly. Love is half a dozen girls crammed into a less-than-six-hundred-square-foot apartment on a Saturday night. Love is talking to a friend in a crowded room and feeling like we are the only ones there. Love is knowing when I share something personal with someone, it is in good faith and assumed to be secret. Love is friendship. Love is trust.

All of this is to say, I don’t have all the answers. But Love is so much more than romance and dare I say, God Himself. It is everyday life. It is in the people who have chosen to stand by me. It is the quality time I get with my friends and family, especially extended family. That is why I now see this passage in a different way. As I read through it again and again, I see this good life of mine filled with the ups and downs that come with being in my 20s. I know that I’m not special in the fact I have had my fair share of bumps in the road in terms of heartbreak and failed friendships, but I never thought I’d get a second chance now that my student days are over. There are some days that I question how I got this lucky. But then there are other days that I realize it is because I continuously make the choice to Love. Even when it was the last thing I want to do. Even when I didn’t think I had the strength in me to bear another heartbreak. In some ways, I feel like I am literally insane – choosing to Love over and over again, even when doing so in the past led to hurt and disappointment. Maybe I am insane. I’m okay with that, though, because if there’s one thing I will take my chances on, it’s Love.

Because Love never fails.

Published by annievogel

I am originally from Long Island, New York. Now, I live and work in D.C. at as an acoustic consultant. I graduated from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. with my bachelors of mechanical engineering in May of 2020. I love living in D.C. because it is smaller than New York City (where I basically grew up), so it was easy to get around. There is always something fun to do all day, every day. I have a few blog posts up about my time at Catholic University, and I plan to write a lot more! If there is one thing that you remember from reading this, it should be that I love spending quality time with friends and family. They are my support system, and I would not be the woman I am today without each and every one of them. Simply put, they mean the world to me. I am also a faithful Catholic and have a passion for music and art. I play the piano, guitar, ukulele, kalimba, and I sing! When I started this blog, I was back in New York due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of my campus. My sister and I published a few episodes of our podcast called The Chirp at the beginning of the summer, but when we both started working, it become difficult to manage. I started this blog in August of 2020 because I was looking for a new recreational project that would stick. So, here’s to a new start!

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