How is your love-life?  Do you want to be a better lover?  Do you want to show your love in ways that will be more greatly appreciated, and more fulfilling to you as well? Then two words, when correctly understood and properly applied to your relationships, will make all the difference in the world!

The first word is “patience” .  True love isn’t in a hurry.  It doesn’t put the other person on a timetable, but gives the person space to make decisions and adjustments.  True love  lets relationships go at their own pace.  It never gets tired of waiting, and demonstrates this attitude by the absence of griping, complaining, grumbling, or any other outward signs of irritation and impatience.

True love doesn’t lose heart, but perseveres through difficult and troublesome times.  It keeps on hoping and believing.  True love is also forgiving. Remember:  nobody is perfect.  If you’re looking for the perfect person to love, you’re in for a very long wait, and hopefully you’ll learn patience in the process!

A true lover is a good listener, and knows how to ask the right questions to keep the conversation going. A true lover seeks to understand, and shows respect for the loved one’s opinions.  A patient person also excercises self-control and knows how to hold his or her tongue to avoid hurting the other person by a hasty or thoughtless word.  A billboard had these words written on it:  “A moment of patience in a moment of anger saves you a thousand moments of regret”.  Do you want to be a more patient person?  You will be loved for it, and you won’t regret it.

The other word is “kindness”.  A true lover is kind, and a kind person is a joy to be around because he or she lifts the spirits of others.  A kind person is also merciful, showing kindness even when it isn’t deserved.  A true lover is kind and doesn’t take advantage of others.  A little child was heard saying these words in a prayer:  “God, make all the bad people good, and make all the good people nice”.  This child saw a difference between being “good” and being “nice”.  I think we can notice that difference also.  Kind people don’t look down on others or make fun of others.  True lovers focus on lifting up their loved ones, not bringing them down.

Kindness is something we all long for.  We experience joy when we receive it from others, and even greater joy when we show it to others.  An act of kindness leaves an indelible impression on the receiver and the giver, as well as on all who witness it.  On the New York subway, a young man, his head covered by a hooded sweatshirt, fell asleep on the shoulder of an older passenger.  When someone else offered to wake the young rider, the older man quietly said, “He must have had a long day.  Let him sleep.  We’ve all been there.”

We all need someone to lean on sometimes, don’t we?  Do you want kindness to be more evident in your life?  Do you want your loved ones to experience it more often from you?

These two qualities, patience and kindness, are at the top of the list, and that list is given in the Bible, in I Corinthians 13:4-7:

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 with the truth.
It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

May our love for one another be characterized by these virtues.