‘… it [love] keeps no record of wrongs.’ 1 Corinthians 13:5 New International Version

I’ve always counted things, ever since I learnt to count (which was definitely before I went to school). Since I learnt to write, I’ve tended to write down what I’ve counted. How much money I have, how many jars of marmalade I’ve made, what I’ve sown in the allotment, what I’ve harvested from the allotment. I’m not very concerned about the size of the answer, I just like to know how much, how many.

I was at a wedding recently and 1 Corinthians 13 was read (as it so often is at weddings). It is beautiful (in part) and incomprehensible, or at least hard to understand, (in part).

On this occasion a modern translation (New International Version) was used and the phrase above leapt out at me and has stayed with me.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

It says to me: Don’t count the wrongs against you. Don’t write them down. You don’t need to know how many there are. Let them go. Forgive.

When truly I love another person, I don’t count their wrongs, real or perceived. And we are called to love our neighbours as ourselves. So I don’t count others’ wrongs, others’ mistakes, and I don’t count mine either.

God loves us and doesn’t keep a record of our wrongs. That is forgiveness.

This is also letting go and non-attachment. If I truly let go, I need no record of what I let go. If I am truly not attached, I need no record of what I not attached to.