I hope Christ's love has filled your heart this Valentine's day! With Lent starting this Wednesday and preparing for our meeting Tuesday, it was a gift to see how Jesus Christ our Lord is our true and only Valentine, that His life is the best love story we could possibly find in the whole world. For He freely chose to endure the sufferings he faced during His passion for all of our broken, imperfect souls. I feel so unworthily blessed and lucky to have someone that loved me and still loves me this way! What else can I ask... My selfish, ego centered self says.."for my husband to love me this way ;-)"... But how can I even ask this if I myself can't love they way Jesus loves? Not my husband , not my beautiful children not my special friends. I read the famous reading from Corinthians...
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 13:3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, 1 but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 13:6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
13:8 Love never ends..."I am so far away from loving this way as you can see from the bold things I need to work on constantly. But looking again at my crucifix and the beautiful story of love that unfolds from there, all I can say is: " Please Dear Lord teach me to love the way you did, give me the courage to love your way..." HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
