1 Corinthians 13 | Stephen L Hufman

The wind molds the trees along the Iceberg Lake Trail

Can you imagine the wind and harsh weather that molded these trees, but here they are hanging on, some how surviving. We have to admit that what life throws at us sometimes makes us think we won’t survive … so oppressed we would rather die.

In the trek along Psalm 103 the next section extols the Lord’s abounding love and compassion. A love that helps renew our strength like the eagle’s.

Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Psalm 103:5-8

How does this help in our time of trouble, fear, high anxiety? By meditating on the goodness of God’s love found in 1 Corinthians 13

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

I can hold onto God’s love when the wind blows so hard I feel that I am about to crack because His love holds onto me. Then instead of breaking I am molded into something beautiful like these trees along the Iceberg Lake trail.

On a medical mission to Mariupol, Ukraine our host church took us to the Sea of Azov for a relaxing picnic. A little ways up the coast stood the towering smoke stacks of a steel mill. The small public picnic area had no caretaker so litter covered the grounds. Our hosts apologized for the mess but in this industrial city it was all they had. We then stood in a large circle holding hands seeking God’s blessing on the food. After the prayer, I opened my eyes, the sun filtered through the trees giving a golden glow to everything and I took this picture. Some of the people by me asked why I wasted time taking a picture of a trash strewn scene. But that is not what I saw, for a moment it sparkled with light. An epiphany of how God saw the people of Mariupol, how He saw me. Not with all the trash we have carelessly littered throughout our lives, but with the light of Jesus transforming us into beauty beyond our wildest dreams.