An Unlikely Valentine

Every February during my high school years, one of the student organizations sold carnations as a fundraiser. Then on Valentine’s Day, members of the club interrupted classes to deliver the pre-ordered red, white, and pink blooms and surprise the lucky recipients. Popular teachers received enough to craft a bouquet, and friends and couples enjoyed exchanging wishes in secret.

Fun times if you got one; awkward if not. I remember that feeling of tossed-aside hope, that sting of rejection because the “one” you were certain would hint with a flower that he thought about you the same way you felt about him obviously did not. Thankfully, the days of lost-love humiliation are history, and as we approach February 14, “Be My Valentine” has been replaced with what God spoke to Isaiah: “You are Mine.” (43:1)

Nowadays, I enfold myself in the words from the book of Jeremiah, “I have loved you with an everlasting love,” (31:3) and discover that I am more in love with the prophet’s God than ever before. “O how I love Jesus,” I sing three times, “because He first loved me!” Back in High school, I knew God loved me to be the biblical truth, but after decades of spiritual growth, I’ve come to truly understand that the God who so loved the world that He sent His only Son loves me more than I could ever measure, describe, or define.

If I begin to explain how I fell deeply in love with Someone I cannot physically see, hear, or touch, you may never understand the intensity of my passion and devotion. And if I tell you that God loves you beyond your imagination, I may not convince you of this truth. Yet in the few words left in this post, I will try.

Your heart is the center of your being, and it is in this space where earth and heaven meet, where God dwells and invites you to dwell with Him. From the moment of your conception, your heart became a gift for this purpose. As His precious, chosen child, you are loved profusely, and there is absolutely nothing you have done or could do that can change this.

Look around you, and notice all that is good. Notice compassion, mercy, patience, trust, and kindness. Notice mountains, oceans, fields, and woodland; notice mammals that roam the land, fish that swim the seas, and birds that take off in flight; notice the sound of music, the warmth of the sun, the scent of flowers, and the multitude of stars in the sky.

These are merely a fraction of all creation. Yet these gifts are nothing compared to God’s love for you. If you accept His love, and especially if you return it, He will bring you His light, His peace, His joy, His hope, His care, and above all, His unending salvation.

There. All done. I love you, too.

“If not for you, my sky would fall. Rain would gather, too. Without your love, I’d be nowhere at all. I’d be lost, if not for you.” — Bob Dylan

Wishing all of you a True Valentine,

Annmarie