October 1 ~

Love suffers long and is kind ... does not seek its own ... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things ... Love lasts for ever ... You shall not covet ... None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's ... whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus ... the way of man is not in himself ... God is love ...
1 Cor.13:4,5,7 (NKJV); 13:8 (Bar); Rom.13:9; 14:7-8 RSV); Col.3:17 (RSV); Jer.10:23 (RSV); 1 Jn.4:8 (KJV)

O, Love is tender, but It must flow out.
It ne'er can hold onto Its object, nor
claim ownership. This is what Love's about:
I must relinquish what I most adore
or in the holding risk dark bitterness
should God e'er take my loved one from my sight.
True Love doth be Transcendent Gentleness.
It anchors not in persons but, like Light,
illumines. Sweet Love, Thou'd not have me hold
nor e'er attempt a single soul to own
but simply love, though agonies untold
should try to turn my hurting heart to stone.

Thou wait within! Thou cannot die, nor leave.
O, show forth in Thy Joy e'en as I grieve ...