Nate: "But I love you MORE!"
Mimi: "No...I loved you first."
Nate: "But I love you the BEST."
Mimi: "Yes, but I love you THIS much." (arms)
Nate: "Oh yeah, but I love you TO THE MOON!"
Ah, the competitive nature of a six-year-old boy.
This Valentine week love is in the air and I am giving thanks for a loving mate. But love relationships are complicated...and sometimes they swing closer to/farther from the love bug as circumstances change. Mike and I have some wonderful, godly friends who have not been treated "fairly" in a love relationship. They understand the devastation of that hurt.
I will never forget the way a church friend described her hurt back in the 80's. Helen had grown up around the Black Sea just before WW2. Although she was not Jewish, her mother had sent her to a tailor shop in the Jewish quarter to pick up some clothing. On that fateful afternoon, Jews were rounded up and put on a train. In the confusion, nine-year-old Helen was sent to a concentration camp (despite the tailor's plea that Helen was not Jewish). Of course, this memory was very painful for Helen to talk about...but her next words surprised me. She sadly remarked that years later, her husband's adultery and their resulting divorce was completely more hurtful than the concentration camp had ever been.
It is a VERY good thing that every soul on this earth has opportunity to access the real Lover of their soul who never changes.
I did not write these analogies, but aren't they grand thoughts?
a Valentine may bring you chocolate, but God provides
something even sweeter, His Word...
something even sweeter, His Word...
"How sweet are Your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Psalm 119.103
a Valentine may play a love song for you, but God sings you the sweetest love song in the universe...
"The Lord your God...will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will keep you quiet with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3.17
a Valentine may give you flowers, but God sent you
the most beautiful rose of all...Jesus
the most beautiful rose of all...Jesus
"I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys."
Song of Solomon 2.1
a Valentine may take you out to dinner, but God has invited you to the most amazing feast ever given...
"Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper
of the Lamb!" Revelation 19.9
a Valentine may be far away, but God is always with you...
"I am with you always." Matthew 28.20
a Valentine may give you a pretty little something,
but God has given you everything...
"God gives us richly all things to enjoy." 1Timothy 6.17
a Valentine may love you for a lifetime, but God loved you
before you were born and will love you for all eternity...
"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love...
with lovingkindness I have drawn you." Jeremiah 31.3
Lately there's a song loop that keeps running through my mind, describing this never-ending love relationship. It is the chorus to a song that Casting Crowns recorded in '09 called "Glorious Day":
Living...He loved me, dying...He saved me
Buried...He carried my sins far away
Rising...He justified freely forever
One day He's coming...oh, glorious day!
On this Valentine's Day, you might want to check out the Lover of your soul.
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