Valentine’s Day is coming. Maybe you think it is the best holiday ever and you relish the chance to eat chocolate unabashedly. Maybe you (like my husband) think it is all a bunch of hooey- a plot by the flower and jewelry industries to make a lot more money in February. Whatever your Valentine’s Day worldview, one thing is certain: we all think about love a lot more on February 14.
The challenge comes when our desire to be loved by someone surpasses our awareness of the people who need our love. I think the Beatles were almost right. In the end, I believe, the love you feel is equal to the love you give.
But giving love, real and true love, is harder than we realize. Here is love, defined:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. -1 Corinthians 13
Love exalts the goodness of others, and seeks nothing of self. That is a tall order from a heart consumed with my hurts, my desires, my dreams. To really love I will have to leave myself by the side of the road and carry the needs of another. Which reminds me of something else I have heard before:
We know love by this, that He [Jesus] laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. -1 John 3:16
I want to know love better. But every time I grasp for it, look for it, and demand it, I come up with empty hands. Love is not a thing to be taken; love is a gift to be given and received. To really know love I must think nothing of myself in the transaction.
There is a piece of art on my wall that says “Love Saves the Day”. It can save us, too, from days without purpose and selfish hearts that care only for ourselves. Valentine’s Day may be over-commercialized, but real love never can be. We will know real love when we live real love. It is a challenging task to tackle, but worth the prize in the end: A heart full of Christ.
Now that is a Valentine’s gift I would love to unwrap.
