Loads of delightful, colourfully-wrapped, sinfully-scrumptious chocolate will soon be on sale! Sweet, delicious, creamy, yummy chocolate.
Sea-salted, caramel-filled, dark or milk chocolate.
I have purchased some of that chocolate (rather reluctantly as it was not on sale yet...) and written up Valentines for my family members so that we can share what we love and appreciate about each other tomorrow.
This is all very lovely but I do admit to helping several children edit their Valentines.
"I love you because you are creepy" was edited to read "I love you because you are fun."
"I think you are a freak" was similarly edited to read "I love your uniqueness."
My Valentines have short sermonettes crammed inside them because why not seize every moment for learning and encouraging, right??
But before we get carried away discussing chocolate and what-sort-of-message-to-include-in-a-Valentine, let's chat for a while about love.
You know, because that's what all this fuss is about anyway.
Hearts and insanely expensive flowers and chocolate as token expressions of love.
And yet, the best expressions of love that I've found are not those on the shelves at the local shopping mart but, rather, those that imitate the God of love.
The best expressions are:
A love that is lavish. I love this word. If you have had a conversation with me recently, you've heard me say this already and I apologize (lavishly) for the redundancy. Lavish means sumptuously or elaborate. It's love that doesn't hold back or allow itself to exist on conditions. It's a love that flows and cascades down and all around.
A love that listens. Ever needed to talk but been shut down? Ever wanted to share a story but your listeners changed the topic or refused to hear you out? That hurts, right? Love listens even if the topic of conversation is not a comfortable one.
A love that is gracious and forgiving. A love that extends and bestows.
A love that rejoices with those who rejoice, that mourns with those who mourn, that laughs raucously with those who laugh raucously, that lends a hand to those who are cast down.
A love that is patient and kind. Gentle and compassionate without understanding. A love that is fiercely protective and as all-encompassing as the best hug ever!
A love that puts another before one's self.
And that's the kinda love I want to celebrate.
Not just tomorrow - on Valentine's Day - but every day.
-BvH
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. |Love never ends..."
-1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a.
No comments:
Post a Comment