"Love 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.

Love never fails..."

At least it's not supposed to. If you grew up in a Christian household, similar to mine, you were taught these characteristics of love before you even knew what they meant. Love, as defined in First Corinthians 13, is pretty clear cut, don't you think? There's no gray area here... and yet, humans seem to have skewed love to create "50 shades of gray" (pun intended). Love isn't never-ending anymore. It's more like "ending whenever you find a new flavor". And in return, there's a lot more hurt.

Growing up, I examined this passage many a time and never really understood how something so extraordinary could be done. I mean, I've tried to do each of the things on this list in relationships and friendships and failed MISERABLY each time.

My love for others isn't patient. I get annoyed within a matter of seconds when someone doesn't deliver what I wanted or expected from them. My love isn't kind. When I see someone doing something I don't like, my first instinct is not to resolve it graciously. It's to get angry.

My love isn't safe from envy. When I see someone else hanging out with MY best friend or in the past when I've noticed girls getting too close to MY boyfriend, I get jealous in a heartbeat. My love isn't humble. I love to brag about how "cute" I am in pictures with my friends and how we're "#goals".

My love is definitely proud. Any time I do something nice for someone else, I pat myself on the back and congratulate myself on being "such a good friend". I view myself as the goddess of relationships. My love is oh, so rude. If I hear you say something I don't like, I will completely take over your opinion with MY FACTS, regardless of your feelings.

My love is completely self-seeking. Whenever I enter into a friendship or relationship, I immediately think about what role the other person is going to play in MY life, not what I can do in theirs. My love is very easily angered. When someone I love screws up or forgets an important day, I will transition from happy to flames coming out of the nostrils in .3 seconds.

My love most certainly keeps a record of wrongs. Remember that time you fell asleep when we were supposed to hang out? Remember when you went to a movie I wanted to see and didn't invite me? I do. It's all right here, filed away in the "ya done messed up" memory folder. :)

My love definitely gets things of evil and the truth skewed. I know I'm supposed to be asleep, yet here I am sneaking out at 2 AM to meet up with you? Yikes.

My love doesn't protect anyone but myself. It doesn't trust that you'll do the right thing, so I'll always have a backup plan in case you screw up. It doesn't hope that things will ever change, because it knows they won't. It can't persevere through the thinnest of storms, because the most fragile wind can knock down what we spent years trying to build.

In short, my "love" most certainly fails. Often. Repeatedly. More times than I would prefer to mention.

And I know I'm not the only one. First Corinthians 13 holds us all up to such a ridiculously high standard of how we should love others that it seems impossible to achieve. Humans have this sticky version of love that is just supposed to be there to benefit us when we need it. We get involved in dysfunctional and inappropriate relationships and call it "love". We say all the right words to someone just so we can get physical attention and call it "love". The word "love" does not mean love anymore. It means something else entirely. And I'm not going to butter you up to tell you that you can achieve perfection if you work at it. It seems impossible for one simple reason- IT IS.

What I've realized, however, is that we are not meant to approach this way of love with our own abilities and our interests in mind. We are supposed to look at it from God's perspective.

Now I know that sounds like the cliche "Christian" answer for everything, just as the cliche answer in Bible class to every question is always "Jesus". But think about it. God is the only one who is able to maintain ALL of these attributes of love. Therefore, humans can only hope to love in this way by allowing Christ to love through them.

People always try to fix everything themselves, claiming that only they know what's best for them. But can you imagine what could happen if we actually let God's love show through us and cared about others more than ourselves? Crazy concept, I know. But this particular chapter has opened my eyes to the fact that looking after only myself cannot and will not bring me (or anyone else) happiness. And it most certainly will not bring me love. That stated, I don't know about you, but my relationships could use a lot more God-love and a lot less me-love. Quite honestly, "me-love" sucks.

With this in mind, I am starting a challenge today that I am entitling "The First Corinthians 13 Experiment". (Original, right?) I am challenging you all to join me and start responding to others differently- loving them the way Jesus would love them. Yes, EVERYONE.

It's definitely not going to be easy. Those coworkers and fake friends are killer, but the world needs a lot more of real love. It doesn't get enough of it. So join me in The First Corinthians 13 Experiment today. See how much love you can pour into someone else's life, without asking for anything in return. I guarantee you, it will change everything.