This simple passage conveys for me the essence of life. When I am uneasy or unsure of how to act, I like to go back to it:

Love is patient,

 love is kind. 

It does not envy,

 it does not boast,

 it is not proud. 

It does not dishonor others,

 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.

Some time ago I found myself in a place of extreme despair.

I woke one morning and felt a strong prompting to read Job chapter 10. 

...maybe it was God?

So I did. I read it.

You will never see anything from that chapter on a billboard or t-shirt.

It’s pretty negative. Possibly the most negative stuff you’ll ever find in Scripture.

My question to God was “Why would you get me to read this miserable stuff?”

I read it a few times. 

It didn’t make me feel better. 

It didn’t promise me anything.

What it did do was show me that I wasn’t alone. 

It showed me that the very same things I was feeling were real, they were worth recording, they made it into what would become Scripture.

It showed me that even heroes sometimes wish they had never been born, and if the misery didn’t last forever for them it wouldn’t last forever for me either.

And it won’t for you. 

God bless.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

I can love nothing more than God. I may fail many times on my own

but if he's the most almighty, how can leaning on his strength fail?