Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Today's reading titled Love Rains Us In was written by a wind collier.

Most young Samoan boys receive a tattoo signaling their responsibility to their people and their chief.

Naturally, then, the marks cover the arms of the Samoan men's rugby team members.

Traveling to Japan where tattoos can carry negative connotations,

the teammates realized their symbols presented a problem for their hosts.

In a generous act of friendship, the Samoans

wore skin-colored sleeves covering the designs. We're respectful and mindful to the Japanese way,

the team captain explained. We'll be making sure that what we're showing will be okay.

In an age emphasizing individual expression,

it's remarkable to encounter self-limitation, a concept Paul wrote about in the book of Romans.

He told us that love sometimes requires us to lay down our rights for others.

Rather than pushing our freedom to the boundaries, sometimes love

reigns us in. The apostle explained in Chapter 14 how some people in the church believed they

were free to eat anything, but others ate only vegetables. While this might seem like a minor

issue in the first century, adherence to Old

Testament dietary laws was controversial. Paul instructed everyone to stop passing judgment on

one another, before concluding with particular words for those who ate freely. It is better not

to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

At times, loving another means limiting our own freedoms.

We don't have to always do everything we're free to do.

Sometimes love rains us in.

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