Today is Valentine’s Day and while I’m not a real big fan of the ways the day has become commercialized and how it seems that for many people it has become a way of atoning for failing to express their love to their significant other the other 364 days of the year, it is a celebration of romantic love and a helpful reminder that we need to express that love. So, for those of you who gave flowers or candy or both, cooked a meal, sent a card or made a call to show your love, well done! And I hope that it is also a good reminder to continue to show your love throughout the year.
But while we are thinking about love, let’s admit it: “love” is a very chameleon word. It takes on so many different meanings in our society. I’ll let you enumerate the many ways the word seems to be used, but we know that it can mean everything from “like” to “lust” to “sacrifice.” For the Christian, the thing that helps us define love is Jesus and what Jesus has to say about God, whom the Bible describes as “Love.” In other words, all love, be it genuine romantic love, family love, or love for others in general, has its basis in God’s love whether we acknowledge it or not. The hunger for love and the capacity to show love is part of what it means to be made in the divine image.
The problem with love is that we are often limiting it or conditioning it. Sometimes it is hard to love others because we haven’t learned to love ourselves as loved by God. But as we come to know God’s love it deepens and transforms our love in all those areas of life where we seek to love.
If you are still struggling with God’s love for you, take a look at this poem written by Sue Garmon. Allow its images and language to break through the defenses you may have erected against God’s love, consciously or unconsciously. And as you see how much you are loved, allow that love to show through your life.
Lord, thank you
for not giving up on me.
Thank you
for not washing your hands of me.
Thank you
for not turning your back on me and my brokenness.
Lord, thank you
for not considering me
a hopeless case;
for not shrugging your shoulders
and walking away
from my innumerable failures,
great and small.
Lord, thank you
for believing in me
when I can’t believe in myself.
Thank you
for hoping in me
when I can’t hope in myself.
Thank you
for trusting me
when I can’t trust myself.
Thank you, Lord,
for being my Father
who believes in me,
who hopes in me,
who trusts me
and loves me
forever and ever---
no matter what.
Lord, forgive me for thinking
that your love for me
and my love for you
can be measured
with the same
yardstick.
Your love for me
doesn’t depend
on what I do for you.
Your love for me
doesn’t falter
in the face
of silence.
Your love for me
doesn’t shrivel
in the face
of my refusal to respond.
Your love for me
doesn’t use me,
force me,
manipulate me
or coerce me.
Your love for me
is free,
and it sets me free.
Forgive me, Lord,
for trying to do to you
what your love won’t allow you
to do to me.
And even now
you say to me,
“Throw away
that yardstick!”
Lord, I’m so happy
that you’re God!
