Charity Never Faileth

What happened to being nice?

What happened to treating people the way you'd want to be treated?

What happened to not giving subtle digs into another person's happiness? 

What happened to being sincere? 

What happened to being able to share your feelings and frustrations without offending someone else with your offended feelings?

What happening to remember that everyone has feelings? 

Did that go out when text messaging, Facebook and e-invites came in?

 

There is a quote floating around the internet that says, "you always regret the words you don't say." I guess I see where this quote is going, it's saying to liberate yourself, say what you want or what you mean, don't fear expression, etc. And I suppose in some circumstances that's really great advice, but on a large scale, I don't think there is any real value in that idea. 

I try to think back to the things I left unsaid, and I have a hard time thinking that I regret them... to be honest, I don't remember most of them. I guess there was the occasional guy that I wish I had said something to about "how I felt" but given a little time and space I don't feel that way anymore, and do I still regret not saying it? No. Why? Because it doesn't matter to me anymore. 

What I regret is all the harsh, unfeeling, selfish, defensive words I've said. I remember something mean I said to Losalena Leki in the second grade. I still kinda feel bad about that. 

Do you know why GOD (you know, the Big Guy Upstairs, the All-knowing, the All-Powerful) said that "charity never faileth"?  He said it because He knows that we'll never regret biting our tongue and swallowing that harsh comeback. He said it because He knows that we will never regret choosing kindness over bitterness, thoughtfulness over mockery, understanding over defensiveness. Our Creator, when giving his very best advice said that "Charity never faileth" because He knows that if we want to be happy, satisfied with our lives, and proud of who we are we need to put others and their feelings above our own. 

There are two major blockades to charity: 1. defensiveness, and 2. justification. 

As the sad fallen creatures that we are our knee-jerk reactions are to do those two things. When we do something wrong our instinct is to either cover it up or justify it. We tell ourselves that we're justified in our actions and list off all the reasons why so that we don't have to feel bad, so we don't have to fix it.  Then if someone has the audacity to notice or point our a flaw of ours our knee-jerk reaction is to get defensive. So, what do we do? Strike back. Make them feel stupid and small. Let them know that they are the ones who should change, who should be ashamed. Then we get mad, and we fail at being charitable, at being kind. And on top of that, we push away an opportunity to better ourselves.