My daughter Kristin
helped me write a paraphrase of I Corinthians 13. I hope it will inspire you to make this familiar passage
incarnational in your relationship with your daughter.
--Sharon Hersh
Love is patient. Love never gives up, even after asking
eleven times, “Please tell me what’s wrong.”
Love is kind. Love cares more for my daughter than I do
for a clean house, a full bank account, or a quiet evening curled up with a
good book.
It does not envy. Love doesn’t want my daughter to be like any
other girl in the world. Love wants her
to be exactly who she is.
It does not boast. Love doesn’t say, “I told you so” (even
though I did tell her that she would be tired and irritable if she stayed up
until 4:30 am!)
It is not proud. Love doesn’t take credit for her
accomplishments—they are all hers!
It is not rude. Love doesn’t expect her to dress like me,
act like me, or be interested in the same things I am.
It is not self-seeking. Love isn’t always pushing her own
agenda. Love lets her find her own way.
It is not easily angered. Love doesn’t yell, “Don’t you take that tone
with me, young lady.”
It keeps no record of wrongs. Love doesn’t keep score of the
times she came in late, didn’t clean her room, or slammed her bedroom door.
Love does not delight in
evil. Love hurts when she hurts and
rejoices when she is glad.
But rejoices in the truth. Love takes pleasure in waiting for her
timing, her growth, and her emotional maturity as if watching the delicate
unfolding of a beautiful, blooming rose.
It always protects. Love puts up with sulking, crying, yelling,
pouting, whining, and complaining.
Always trusts. Love remembers that she is God’s child—a
magnificent loan for a while, but she is His.
Always hopes. Love always looks for the creative,
beautiful, amazing girl begin the unpredictable, messy, moody façade.
Always perseveres. Love listens to her daughter’s lament, “Mom,
I hate my life!” and sees a chance to begin again, make new trust again,
forgive again and demonstrate again that undergirding her relationship with her
daughter is a commitment that the greatest earthquake cannot shake.
Love never fails. Love keeps going toward emotional maturity,
unwilling to trade this difficult, demanding, and infinitely rewarding journey
for anything!