{"id":1749,"date":"2018-04-13T20:40:27","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T01:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2019-05-17T14:55:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T19:55:08","slug":"love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Is… Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Love Is\u2026<\/b><\/h1>\n

Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral, \u00a0<\/b>by Lydia Floren<\/h3>\n

Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just that. I was attending the memorial service for Mary Markquart, the mother in law of my dear friend, Terri. \u00a0About halfway through the remarks, I grabbed a pen from the pew in front of me and started jotting things down on my program. By the end, I had filled every available space with my scribbles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me back up.<\/p>\n

Three years earlier, Terri Markquart, called to tell me that her mother-in-law was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a grim diagnosis with limited life expectancy.<\/p>\n

Many people, including Terri and I, were praying for Mary and her family. From time to time, Terri would give me an update. \u00a0By God\u2019s strength, Mary survived surgery and several rounds of chemo, allowing her more time – more good quality time – with her loved ones, than anyone\u00a0dared hope for. \u00a0Mary was able to attend the weddings of two of her grandchildren, and finally, in her last days, she witnessed the nuptials of her only daughter. As her time approached, which was remarkably free of pain, she was able to say good-bye to everyone she most cared about. \u00a0And ,when she was unable to talk, she could still say \u201cI love you.\u201d With those words on her lips–\u201cI love you\u201c\u2013 she slipped into the next life<\/a> as graciously as she had traveled through this one.<\/p>\n

At Mary\u2019s funeral, people remarked, not as much on Mary\u2019s accomplishments \u2013though there were many–, but more on her character. They shared who she was, not what she had done: \u00a0 Mary was gracious, kind, and compassionate. She was generous, hospitable, and interested in people. \u00a0And she was a person of deep faith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The last person to speak was her minister. \u00a0\u201cI am reading from Mary\u2019s underlined patched-together Bible,\u201d he said as he held it up. \u00a0 \u201cOne passage that Mary clearly loved was 1 Corinthians 13:4-8<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. \u00a0Love never fails.\u2019 ”\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

\u201cBelieve it or not,\u201d he continued, \u201cas much as these words describe Mary\u2019s life, she did not mark up these verses in her Bible nearly as much as she did the first few words of the next chapter.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He paused, and then smiled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c1 Cor 14:1 begins with this little phrase: \u2018Make love your aim.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sums up Mary\u2019s life. She lived her life focused on love.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does it mean to make love your goal in life?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love Is\u2026 Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral, \u00a0by Lydia Floren Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just that. I was attending the memorial service for Mary Markquart, the mother in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-love"],"yoast_head":"\nLove Is... Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral - Belovedlove<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love Is... Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral - Belovedlove\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Belovedlove\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/belovedlove.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-14T01:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-17T19:55:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lydia Floren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lydia Floren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/\",\"name\":\"Love Is... Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral - Belovedlove\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-14T01:40:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-17T19:55:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#\/schema\/person\/1105f11928cd7dac66c63a7376b13fe9\"},\"description\":\"Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":853},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Love Is… Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/\",\"name\":\"Belovedlove\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#\/schema\/person\/1105f11928cd7dac66c63a7376b13fe9\",\"name\":\"Lydia Floren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d31ebd28eee6873bf6e78f48ea495570295dd36da3c7c776cbbdfdfc5a17e7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d31ebd28eee6873bf6e78f48ea495570295dd36da3c7c776cbbdfdfc5a17e7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lydia Floren\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/belovedlove.org\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/bebelovedlove\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/author\/lydiaflorenclan-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Love Is... Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral - Belovedlove","description":"Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Love Is... Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral - Belovedlove","og_description":"Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just","og_url":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/","og_site_name":"Belovedlove","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/belovedlove.org","article_published_time":"2018-04-14T01:40:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-17T19:55:08+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Lydia Floren","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lydia Floren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/","url":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/","name":"Love Is... Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral - Belovedlove","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg","datePublished":"2018-04-14T01:40:27+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-17T19:55:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#\/schema\/person\/1105f11928cd7dac66c63a7376b13fe9"},"description":"Have you ever attended a funeral where you pulled out a piece of paper and started taking notes? Weird, right? Well, I can remember one time when I did just","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/graveyard.jpeg","width":640,"height":853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2018\/04\/13\/love-part-1-three-weddings-funeral\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Love Is… Part 1: Three Weddings and a Funeral"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#website","url":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/","name":"Belovedlove","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#\/schema\/person\/1105f11928cd7dac66c63a7376b13fe9","name":"Lydia Floren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d31ebd28eee6873bf6e78f48ea495570295dd36da3c7c776cbbdfdfc5a17e7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d31ebd28eee6873bf6e78f48ea495570295dd36da3c7c776cbbdfdfc5a17e7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lydia Floren"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/belovedlove.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/belovedlove.org","https:\/\/x.com\/bebelovedlove"],"url":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/author\/lydiaflorenclan-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1752,"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions\/1752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}