Love in Action: The Candle of Love

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 

-1 Corinthians 13:7

We love things easily. We love routines that work, students who respond, families who understand, and seasons of our work that feel light. The word love feels warm, familiar, and comforting - until Advent invites us to slow down and light the Love Candle, redefining love not by a warm feeling, but by reminding us that love is a responsibility we must be willing to carry.

Scripture does not describe love as warm, gentle, or convenient. It describes love as enduring, with action. Love bears, meaning it absorbs what would otherwise spill over. It carries frustration without passing it on to others. Love believes, not in outcomes or perfect behavior, but in the God who is still at work when we fail to see the evidence. Love hopes, not because conditions may improve, but because despair does not get the final word. And love endures, staying present even in the most difficult of circumstances. The Candle of Love exposes our deficits and limits and then invites us beyond them.

As we light the final candle, the Love Candle, we focus not on love as a soft or sentimental feeling, but a love strong enough to endure. This is the love that carried Christ as He entered into the world and completed His work of our salvation, and it is the love now entrusted to you. Love in action is disruptive. It resists the urge to withdraw care from students who drain our energy or challenge our expectations. It confronts the temptation to ration compassion and to decide who is worth the effort and who is not.

Love shows up to the classroom early and stays long after the lights are off. It sits beside unfinished work, listens to tired questions, and refuses to leave when patience is running out. It does not rush work or demand results. Love drafts the email slowly. It rereads it before sending. It resists defensiveness, chooses clarity over sarcasm, and speaks truth without sharpening it into a weapon. Love listens beneath frustration, and stays engaged when misunderstanding would be easier. It does not avoid hard conversations, but it refuses to make them harder than they need to be. Love does not seek to be liked, but chooses to be faithful. All of this is the pedagogy of love. Secular research even shows that "loving pedagogy" is not only essential for students, it also serves to promote teacher well-being and reduce burnout (Chen, 2023). Love described in scripture has an even greater eternal impact.

Advent love is not easy, especially if you are one of the teachers who return to the classroom for a few more days this week even though you are ready for a break. Jesus’ love broke into the world and changed everything. Every moment we choose inaction over love in action - every missed opportunity - can have consequences, while every choice to act on love has the power to transform lives in ways we may never witness. In Corinthians, Paul strategically points this out with the words "all things." Love in action does not pick and choose what to bear, believe, hope or endure, it does so in all situations. By choosing to bear, believe, hope, and endure all things, we create classrooms that carry Christ's love to the world.

Love in Action

Where can I choose to endure this week?

Who can I love, even though it calls me to bear more than I feel I can handle?

Prayer

Giver of the Gift of Love, You see the long nights, the unseen labor, and the burdens I carry. Give me the strength to love when it is costly. Let my decisions this week be shaped not by exhaustion or frustration, but by love that endures all things. Teach me to bear, believe, hope, and endure, just as You have done for me. Amen.