Gong...

I was in my car the other day lamenting over some difficult interpersonal communication issues I've been having with a certain individual. I'll leave most of the details out except to say that the situation has caused a near constant undercurrent of tension. Of course I thought I was the one in the right...
I was beginning to feel that the situation was hopeless when for some reason it finally dawned on me to pray about it. As I drove across the lake I admitted to God that I was clueless on this one and needed Him to give me the answer. You know what He said; love, the answer to everything is love.
Of course I couldn't just accept that at face value, I had to test the hypothesis to see if it was really true. A retrospective study design would be sufficient... So I thought of a situation and then the answer. Yep, it was love... I tried it again a few more times and each time came up with the same answer, it's true!!! (1 John 4:8 says "God is love.")
The next scripture that popped into my head was 1 Corinthians 13, aka the "love chapter."

Love is patient: Oops, missed that one...
Love is kind: Oh man...
It does not envy: hmm...
It does not boast,it is not pround,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 protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

I was 0 for 15, God help me!

I Corinthians 13:1 says, "If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

This song by JJ Heller says it all!

Lord, keep me from being a gong!