SEPTEMBER 28
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face
to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even
as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love
abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
—I CORINTHIANS 13:12-13How we long to be known to one another
Or do we? For many of us there persists the suspicion: if
you really knew me, you wouldn’t like me. But in therapy
groups and sharing groups across the land comes the aston-
ishing discovery: to really know me is to love me. Not be-
cause I am perfect—far from it—but because in sharing my
vulnerability and pain and weakness, I become understood
and accepted. In the strength of that gift, I can grow and
change. Like newly tilled earth, I am ready for fresh seeds,
for new growth.
The “now” and “then” in the passage from Paul’s letter
to the church at Corinth describe the clouded and imperfect
knowledge and love we experience in life, and the state of
full enlightenment and love we will know on the other side
of death.
When burdened with feelings of self-doubt and anxiety about un-
resolved conflict, I will try to imagine a truly forgiving world.