February is one of my favorite months. Smack dab in the middle of what can sometimes be the dreary winter months is cause for a celebration – a celebration of LOVE! February is known as the month of love because it contains Valentine’s Day. I love it all – the flowers, the candy, the sweet words we share, and the time we spend focusing on all those we love.
23 years into our marriage, I’m still madly in love with my husband. Sure, too many days are filled with crazy work schedules, laundry, dinner, and rushing kids around, but we still try to devote time throughout the day to just each other. It can be as simple as a phone call to see how the other one is doing, or it can be a quiet dinner when the kids are out. Marriage, like all relationships, requires effort and commitment to keep it healthy and maintain that connection. Since our marriage is extremely important to both of us, we work at it and ask the Lord to stay in the center of our marriage. I’m grateful every single day to walk by my husband’s side through this life. He’s my very best friend in the world, and I’ve known him longer than most anyone. But the real love of my life came much earlier.
As a young child, I attended church regularly and listened to my Dad preach. My memories of those lessons were about Jesus and His love for us.
Many years went by and those around me thought I was a believer, but I knew differently. I felt empty and alone. I lacked a sense of purpose. I was scared about what the future held for me. In short, my heart was burdened, but I also knew there was an answer. I could feel God speaking to my heart and telling me that there was more and my life could be full with him.
At a youth meeting at my Uncle’s church, I heard kids sharing about their relationship with Christ – how He helped guide them through life’s challenges and gave them a hope and a future. Jesus spoke to me through those kids that night, and I prayed with my cousin and I asked Jesus to come into my life. I told Him about how I had failed Him and others, but I also thanked him for coming to this earth and laying down his life so that I might be made new and experience his love and forgiveness. It was then that I could truthfully say that Jesus was the lord and savior of my life.
Christ is the love of my life! That certainly doesn’t mean our relationship is perfect. I can look back and recognize times in my life when I didn’t always place Him first, didn’t spend quality time with Him, didn’t seek His guidance or direction (come to think of it, this is a continuous journey). I am certainly thankful that His love comes with an abundance of grace!
This February, I have been continually drawn to scriptures that point to His amazing love for us. His love is everlasting, it knows no bounds. It isn’t conditional on our actions, words, or thoughts (in fact, scripture says nothing can separate us from the love of God), and He displayed this love so generously by dying a horrible death on a cross for our sins. The very definition of God is love (1 John 4:8).
And love is so important to our Savior that the greatest directive He gave us was to LOVE others! In fact, He said that’s how they would recognize that we are Christ followers, because of the love that we share. My favorite verse about this has become Galatians 5:6. It simplifies our purpose. It brings our chaos into order. It reminds us of the most important thing – our faith expressing itself through love.
My prayer is that we use the celebration of love to remind us not only of the everlasting love of our Savior but that we recognize the importance of sharing His love each day not just with our family and friends but with everyone He places in our paths.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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