Valentine’s Day

I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day. I think that’s partially due to my birthday being a week before V day, so it felt like all the pink and red and hearts were associated with my special day. I’ve also always loved and appreciated written words of affirmation, so a holiday that involves people giving each other written declarations of love is right up my alley.

This year, I am especially thankful to have a new Valentine to count among my loved ones. Allison is sweeter and more enjoyable every day. She’s been eating very well lately, she finally rolled over (yahoo!), and she was a great traveler on our trip to Seattle/Spokane last week (I’ll write more about that and post pictures soon).

I am also so thankful for my wonderful best friend and partner and husband, Seth. He makes me smile every day, he’s an even better daddy than I could have imagined, and he’s a faithful, loving friend to me. I thank God for the gift of our marriage! 

But at the same time that I’m celebrating and appreciating the love in my life, I am also going through a hard time emotionally. Someone that we really care about is going through a very hard time; this person has lost their way and is walking through a very dark valley. Sometimes we are tempted to despair because it’s so hard to see someone we love in such a terrible place. But we keep clinging to the truth that God is faithful and always willing and able to rescue those who turn to him. So we cling and we trust and we pray and we love.

I’ve been reflecting on the definition of love this week, and I keep being encouraged at how beautiful it really is. Here’s the familiar passage from 1 Corinthians 13 in slightly different words, from The Message translation:

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.
   Love never dies.