Love Always Protects

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God is loving yet He took away the son that I loved.

How can I reconcile these two ideas? I know both to be true. As a father, I know that I would do anything to protect my children. Love drives us to protect. In 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen it describes the attributes of love. Included in that list it states that love always protects. On the morning of December 8th, I did not feel protected. Four months after the accident I tried to write about this idea.

4.10.19

Love is a commitment. You vow to stay committed for better or worse. God has loved me even through my darkest moments. Love protects. I can think of many times when my own children were not aware of the danger around them and I took steps to protect them. On the morning of December 8th, I had no idea what the future would hold but I knew that God loved me and he also loved Bryce. If God loves us how could he let the crash happen? The only thing more important than the physical is the spiritual. God allowed the physical to be impacted. It cost Bryce his physical life and brought physical pain to us. Could He have been protecting the spiritual? I can only know in part. Someday I will know fully. I do know that love always protects. Someday I will know how He protected us. Until then I will need to have faith in the One that loves me.

I don’t know the answers to the “whys” that surround that day. Even if I did, I doubt the pain would be removed. Just as I have protected my children many times as a father without them knowing or understanding, I know that my Heavenly Father has done the same for me. There will be a day when all will be made right. In that moment, I will know the most important thing remains the same, the same God that has always loved and protected me never wavered in that love and protection, even when I didn’t understand. Until that day I will try to live out the rest of verse seven. It states that love always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.