Love is in the Air

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  Are you looking forward to lavish plans with your “love,” or do you dream of crossing the entire “Hallmark holiday” off the calendar?

Seeing the seasonal red, pink, and white carnations in the stores brings me back to some pretty cringe-worthy memories of adolescence.  Around Valentine’s Day at my middle school, for a dollar, you could buy a carnation for someone you liked, loved, or admired.  Different colors were supposed to signal exactly how you felt about that person.  You gave a RED flower to proclaim your LOVE.  A PINK flower meant you LIKED them, and a WHITE flower you sent as a SECRET ADMIRER.  

It seems silly now, some thirty years later, but I vividly remember the stress acne and soaked armpits of my Izod shirts caused by sweating over those colored carnations.

Days prior to passing them out, the questions would start…

• He says he loves me but does he really?  Will he send me a red one?

• I know she told me she’s buying me a pink one, but maybe she’s just saying that so I’ll buy her one, then she’ll get more than me.

• What if she doesn’t receive any flowers?  Maybe I should send her a white one and not tell her so she won’t cry like last year.

Aren’t you thankful God’s love for us is constant, unfailing, and unconditional?

At weddings, we often hear 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind…” but is that love completely possible in marriage?  

I don’t want to burst your romantic bubble but I believe that passage of scripture is truly about God’s love for you.  We can strive to love others the way God loves us, but we’ll eventually fail because we’re not humanly capable of loving with God’s intensity or consistency.

Today, on the eve of Valentine’s Day, let’s focus on God’s true love, thanking Him that it is:

• ALWAYS – Patient, Kind, Truthful, Protecting, Trusting, and Hopeful.

• NEVER – Envious, Boastful, Prideful, Rude, Self-Seeking, Angry, or Vengeful.

So no matter what your plans look like for tomorrow; a hot date, a gathering of gals, or by yourself on the couch with a blanket wrapped around you, know that God loves you more than any person on this planet ever can or will.

If God sent you carnations, He’d send you more red ones than you could count, because His love is deeper, higher, wider, and longer than you can even imagine (Eph. 3:18).  He’d also send you some pink ones, because He knows everything about you and still likes you, inside and out.  Lastly, He’d send you one white carnation to remind you that you are pure, forgiven, holy, innocent, and His beloved bride.  

Maybe carnations can remind us of what it divine, eternal, and entirely good: God’s LOVE.  

Happy Valentine’s Day my friend!

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