Don’t give up on Love!
Whether you are a romantic or a cynic this Valentine’s Day, whether you feel that love has passed you by or been wrenched from your grasp…it is never time to give up on love. But, it may be time to rethink it.
What were you looking for – hoping for – from love? True love – your one and only – sweep you off your feet – love at first glance kind of love? You know what I mean – the stuff of school girl dreams and romance novels. Maybe none of that mythical, fanciful stuff resonates with you. Perhaps you were just busy with life and thinking that somewhere, someday the love of your life, might catch up with you. Either way, both of those approaches are well worth giving up on. Your status doesn’t have to be single for this to apply to you. Married couples give up on love every day. Sadly, some never get beyond living single-spirited together to living together in unity of spirit.
But wait – what are we supposed to do today with Valentine’s Day if no one is asking to “Be Mine?” What if you are sick of all this commercial hype about love? Maybe you even plan to opt out for SAD (Singles Awareness Day) on the 15th of February. Over half of the U.S. population identifies as single, so you should easily find some (hopefully good) company there.
According to Entrepreneur (Jan. 2017) it is time for retailers to adjust their marketing strategies because Feb 14th isn’t just about couples anymore. It’s about family, friends, pets, and of course, you! So, does that confirm that Valentine’s Day is just another Hallmark best-seller, a holiday designed to pick your pocket? You could make a case for that; however, some historical background and social customs associated with this day do really exist. So, Hallmark may not have designed it, but they (and others) have definitely capitalized on this day, Valentine’s Day, our national day of love!
Still, how can you really object to a day that promotes red roses and dreamy chocolates?
Although only 55% of the consumers surveyed stated that they plan to celebrate it; the National Retail Foundation estimates that U.S. Consumer spending for Valentine’s Day in 2018 will top out at around $19.6 billion. Valentine’s Day is the second busiest day of the year to eat out. Pets are getting their whopping share of the bounty too: $681 million’s worth in 2016. Three in ten of those who identified as not intending to celebrate Valentine’s Day still had plans to do something – either treat themselves or plan a get together with friends or buy an Anti-Valentine gift.
Whether positive or negative, thoughts of love still elicit a reaction from us.
Let’s reclaim the cynic and temper the romantic within us to make some positive impact on the people whose space we share in our community. Could we look beyond the single versus couple status to just see people, people who need to feel loved?
Here’s today’s challenge: Share some “lovingkindness.”
Spread some kind cheer and care on Valentine’s Day regardless of your personal relationship status. Look for the ones who are vulnerable, grieving a loss, lonely, sick, discouraged, home bound, facility bound, or incarcerated. Maybe it looks like the child passing through the foster care system, or the frail elderly living alone, the family at the bedside in hospice care, or the single parent. But also, look for the ones who seem to have it all together; they need your lovingkindness just as much. And, don’t forget the ones who sacrifice to keep our community safe and functioning. Sacrifice is at the core of love, so love them back.
Don’t ever give up on love! I understand the temptation to do so. I have been there. I had been hurt too deeply and too often, rejected and sent away. I vowed never to look for a love relationship again, especially as a single parent. Surprisingly, that wariness of love affected my ability to love overall.
Valentines may wax eloquent about “true love” but what about “Real Love?” Don’t fall for a mythical “true love” based on unrealistic expectations. And certainly, don’t settle for less than Real Love. As confident as I am today in my husband’s love and as much as I love him, I know that there is only one Real Love. That is the love that rescued me, sustained me and continues to sustain and energize me.
One love alone defines all love.
One love alone gives life to all Real Love.
One perfect love endures all.
One love alone is not only true, but is truth itself.
It was placed on public display in a bloody, gruesome scene on Golgotha’s hillside, nailed to a Roman cross at a place called Calvary over 2,000 years ago. It was love not just to the death but through death into a borrowed tomb sealed with a huge stone. It was and is an all-powerful love that burst through the hold of death to resurrected life and to keep on loving throughout eternity.
Our hearts crave a perfect love, the Real Love.
If I ever wanted someone to love me with his whole being, if I ever wanted to read the perfect love story and be invited to walk into the middle of that story, then that is what I have found through Jesus, in God’s Love.
Here is how His love letter reads:
I have loved you with an everlasting love. My steadfast love endures forever. Before anything in creation was spoken into existence, you were in my mind and heart. I know every microscopic detail of your being. I anticipate your every need and step. I know your every thought, every word, and every action before it even happens. I am with you always. I see you every moment, on the hard days and the bright days. I am your keeper. I watch over your soul and guard your heart. I want you to love me and love others just as I have loved you. I have prepared a place for you, an eternal home in heaven that I want you to share with me. I gave up everything; left my heavenly abode, clothed myself in human flesh, and subjected myself to the constraints of life on earth. I was born and grew up with humble means among the very people I had created. I was the life that brought light to the world. I am the way, the truth, the life. I was rejected, despised, cursed, abused and murdered by crucifixion. Through all those times, you were on my mind. I laid aside my own interests to endure this and provide what you could not do for yourself. I came to rescue you from the realm of darkness and transfer you to my kingdom of light, the kingdom of God. I came to redeem you, reclaim you as my own, cleanse you, forgive your sins against me and against others, to rebirth you with a new heart and fill you with my Spirit and offer you eternal life as a child of God if only….. if only you will believe in me.
I have called you to forever “Be Mine.”
With Steadfast, Sacrificial Love,
Jesus
Will you love Him back?
Will you invest or re-invest in loving others that you share space with today?
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Shocking Valentine’s Day Stats That Will Make You Rethink Your Marketing
2018: CONSUMERS WILL SPEND NEAR-RECORD $19.6 BILLION ON VALENTINE’S DAY
Selected References for Jesus’ Love Letter:
Psalms 103:17 “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him…” ESV
Psalms 86:5 “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.” ESV
Psalms 86:15 “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” ESV
Jeremiah 31:3 “…I have loved you with an everlasting love…” ESV
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life.” ESV
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” ESV
Rom 5:1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” ESV
Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ESV
Ephesians 1:4 “…Chose us in him before the foundation of the world…” ESV
Ephesians 3:17-20 “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God…” ESV
Colossians 1:13-14 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” ESV
Philippians 2:1-7 “…taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men… he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross…” ESV
1John 3:1-3 “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God…what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” ESV
1John 4:7-12 “…for love is from God…because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another…” ESV
Psalms 63:3 “Because your steadfast love in better than life, my lips will praise you.”
These are just a few of the many verses that speak of God’s love and plan for a relationship with mankind. Please contact me for additional information.
