Day 364: Love…

…is the one ‘L of a difference.

This jaw-dropper called agape requires humility and courage to give and receive it.

Eugene Peterson’s interpretation is my love poem for Day 364:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^{— 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, The Message}

Together we Awaken, Challenge and Transform from a lone toward all ONE — one L of a difference. Love productively ACTs. In the words of Bob Goff, LOVE DOES. Love breeds life, not strife.

Are you a trivia buff wondering why this is Day 364? The poem you find in BBTL is a direct quote from the next-to-last page of The 12 Essentials of Personal Excellence playbook. It’s followed by this prACTice:

This is our last practice of the 12. This one kind of sums it all up. This one is beautiful, simple, and impossible. Impossible to fake, that is.

Here it is. Do not miss this one. This is HUGE.

Tell your team why you LOVE them.

Tell your team why you LOVE your work.

Make it personal and make it real. You do not have to do this assignment.

…unless love compels you.

Finally, when you are growing weary of daring to love in a self-centered/others-controlling world, here’s a daily reminder you can put on your refrigerator — it’s the closing poem from the 12:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered,
LOVE THEM ANYWAY

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives,
DO GOOD ANYWAY

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies,
SUCCEED ANYWAY

The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow,
DO GOOD ANYWAY

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable,
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight,
BUILD ANYWAY

People really need help but may attack you if you help them,
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth,
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY.
^{— Sign on a wall of a children’s home in Calcutta, cited by Mother Teresa}

PrACTice love. Simple, not easy.

Done so anyway.