Today I attended two funerals. Not common, but what made it even more unusual is that they were cousins; what made it even more unusual is that they died on the same day; what made it even more unusual is that they did not die in an accident together. One died from cancer after deciding very peacefully not to receive any treatment. The younger choked on a piece of steak he had warmed up to eat after returning home from business. So though each funeral gathered a different collection of friends and colleagues and styles of ceremony, they both brought together many of the same family members who shared the same memories of life with these men.
Obviously "love" is probably the most recurring theme for songs and literature, but I have always enjoyed the way this song expresses it. It doesn't hit you over the head or waste time emoting. It doesn't even really talk about romantic relationships. Simply put, it states that love won't give you stuff you want; love won't solve all your problems; love is not institutional. It is caring for each other as human beings, taking up the slack when others are having a tough go of it. And the very fact that there are others out there willing to do that makes it possible for us as the song says to weather the storm.
love is patient
love is kind
love is not envious
or boastful
or arrogant
or rude
it does not insist on its own way
it is not irritable
or resentful
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing
but rejoices in truth
it bears all things
believes all things
hopes all things
endures all things
love never ends
1 Cor 13:4-8
