Love - Variation on a theme

(This is a variation of the famous Chapter 13 of St Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians)
If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its proper place, but have not Love,
I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.
If I have time for waxing, polishing and interior decorating, but have not Love, my children will learn of cleanliness - not Godliness.
Love leaves the dust in search for a child’s laugh.
Love smiles at tiny fingerprints on a newly-cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes away the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.
Love is present through the trials.
Love reprimands, reproves and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation’s message to a child’s heart.
Before I became a mother, I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God’s perfection in my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is LOVE.