but have not LOVE

i started out crossfit this morning in tree pose and read my inaugural version of 1 Corinth 13.

"if i say "i will make America great again', but have not LOVE, i am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. if i promise jobs and protection and if i appeal to all your greatest fears, but have not LOVE, i am nothing. if i appoint Christian supreme court justices, and support anti-abortion law but have not LOVE, i gain nothing.

love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking. it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. it always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.
love never fails."

i'm sad and upset. i'm sad because it's the end of the obama era but i'm upset by what's coming. i'm upset because WHERE IS THE LOVE? where is the love? i look at what's coming and i see a lot of hate and i see a lot of impatience and meanness and boasting and pride. i see rudeness and selfish ambitions and a lot of anger and bitterness. i see rejoicing in lies, not truth.

and then i wonder how? how did We the people, get here? Where is the love for each other? for our belief in love? for the welcoming arms of the statue of liberty? where is the love of our fellow person, whether in the USA or abroad? how did we as americans come to be so divided over certain issues that we landed here? how did we, a nation founded on biblical principles, put someone of questionable character in our highest office?

love is hard. truly loving each other well is very hard- all of it. patience and kindness and forgiveness and peace and humility and selflessness - those things i need to work on each day, with the people i love most, let alone strangers, or enemies. but i value these things highly. i know they are right and how i should behave and how i want my children to behave.

here we are on inauguration day. i'm on the other side of the world, maybe you are too. here's what i'm holding on to: LOVE. i'm holding onto all the attributes of love- but today, i'm holding onto the last part of that verse- it always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.

i'm holding on to that part because from way over here in africa, i believe in our systems and our people. i believe that we still believe in love and that we will do what we can as a nation to trust this, to protect this, to hope in this, to persevere no matter what.

i'm holding on to LOVE NEVER FAILS.