Showing love online on Valentine’s Day

If I blog with sparkling wit and powerful prose, but do not have love, I am just a blaring horn or a screech on a blackboard . 

If I tell great stories, show brilliant intellect and can shine light on the mysteries of life, but do not have love, I am nothing.  

If I make myself look good by highlighting my generosity and self-mastery, but do not have love for others, I gain nothing.

Love online is patient and kind. It does not envy the popularity of others, it does not boast over shares, is not proud about likes.  

Love online does not share posts that dishonour others or intend to wound. It does not have a prickly ego or is easily angered by those who disagree. It keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love online does not delight in evil, or the failures of others, but celebrates when truth is spoken and grace is shared.

Love online protects the vulnerable and spreads trust. It always hopes and always perseveres.

Sharing love and kindness is never pointless. But where there are viral posts, they will cease; where there are hilarious memes, they will be stilled; where there is deep knowledgeable articles, they too will pass away. 

For whatever we consume online, we only ever know a fraction of reality. Our connection is weak, it buffers, breaks down and fails to load.

Now, we know only a virtual form of reality; one day we will see total reality. We will know as we are fully known.

Online, as in life, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

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With thanks to St Paul: 1 Corinthians 13