Thanksgiving is about love and giving love

 

     Love is both a quality of life that individuals can have and enjoy, and it is a special activity that they can express to others. This means that love is both a noun and a verb, something to have and also something to do. References to love in both senses of the word are very common in many daily conversations and publications. Love is regularly used in advertising copy to attract viewers and to get individuals to buy various products, so a person’s understanding of love is very strongly conditioned by how it is displayed and described and received and delivered in various cultural settings. These cultural definitions and examples of love can create a lot of personal confusion and stress within individuals as they seek to learn how to receive love and to share love with others. And the challenges of this process can have a lot of severe consequences for individuals throughout their lives regardless of their gender, religious identity, living situation, or education.
     Paul, an ancient Christian apostle who wrote thirteen of the documents in the New Testament, cited these qualities in his classic statement on the “gift” of “love” (Greek noun agapen) in his first letter to his Christian friends in Corinth. see 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. He said “love

• is patient
• and kind
• does not envy
• or boast
• is not arrogant
• or rude
• does not insist on its own way
• is not irritable
• or resentful
• does not rejoice at wrongdoing
• but rejoices with the truth
• bears all things
• believes all things
• hopes all things
• endures all things
• never ends.”

     These qualities of love in one’s relationships with others are timeless. They are as important for individuals today as they were for the ancient people of Corinth, a port city with several temples to pagan gods and a reputation for “wanton sexuality”. 19 So these ancient Romans, and perhaps some of Paul’s Christian friends, had some important lessons to learn about love in their personal relationships. An expression of love without some of these qualities is probably not a very good gift. And the inclusion of these qualities in God’s gift of love makes this divine gift superior to those of “faith” and “hope”. (see 1 Corinthians 13:13)