Sometimes I need to be hit upside the head more than once about stuff

If I have obedient children but have not love, it is nothing.
God does not want their obedience MORE than my patience and kindness. If all I can manage is the patience and kindness, the obedience will have to wait.

If I have a clean kitchen, decluttered basement, shelves with nothing out of place, but have not love, it is worth nothing.
The cleanliness, generosity in giving things away, and orderliness are secondary to the love in which I made that happen. If I neglected to give time to a needy child, scowled at a messy preschooler, or rolled my eyes about a poorly done chore, I sullied the end product. It no longer matters at the cost of my lack of love.

If I have workbook pages done, a science experiment accomplished, or that last chapter of historical fiction read, but have not love; I was just a clanging cymbal.
The work we accomplish in school will amount to nothing in heavenly terms if it was not accomplished with love on my part... on all our parts...

I get all worked up trying to spin my plates, keep all the balls in the air ... but in the end, when I stand before God and go over my life, none of it will matter if there was not love in it.

Love is never...
envious
boastful
proud
rude
self-seeking
easily angered
recording wrongs

Love always...
protects
trusts
hopes
perseveres
delights in the truth