Valentine's Day

Yep...it's about that time again. That time of year, the season of love. Valentine's Day.


Valentine's Day is one of my favorite times of the year. I have a wonderful wife who I've been married to for 12 years, and she actually puts up with me (how I'll never know). Hopefully, maybe we can sneak away this year and have some time to ourselves without our little kiddies coming along (wouldn't that be nice?)


When I was a kid, I hated to see Valentine's Day come around. Being one of the unpopular kids at school, I always seemed to be less "blessed" with the spirit of Valentine's Day. Most years I didn't collect but a handful of Valentine's cards, usually never individually, and very few when the class distributed them out to our fellow classmates.


I do remember one Valentine's Day when I was a kid, one I'd really rather forget. I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade, I can't really seem to recall which year it was, maybe I've mentally blocked that information in my mind. Our class project that year was to take a shoebox and decorate it in the form of a mailbox, place our names on them, then we would set them all out on the counter for all the kids to deliver our Valentine's Day cards. You see...I really hated that one year because I had spent most of the the night before decorating that mailbox, and when I went to collect my mailbox at the end of the day for our party, my mailbox was totally empty. Yes, there wasn't a single Valentine's Day card in there. It really upset me, but I never let on that it did, at least in class. When I went to day care after school, I had the unpleasant task of trying to concoct some story of why my mailbox was empty. Obviously, I didn't want to tell them the truth, so I made up some excuse why there were none.


I think all of us at times feel lonely or alone, not just when we're children but as adults, too. Of course, there are varying degrees to it (some people are more lonely than others), but I think we all experience that feeling sometimes, at least during some point in our lives. Fortunately, there's a God who loves us more than we could ever imagine. He's there for us when we realize we've reached the "end of our rope", so to speak, and we have no where else to turn. I found myself in that very situation about seven years ago, and I had nowhere else to turn to but God for His help. In John 6:37, He tells us that whoever comes to Him, He will never drive, or turn, away. You don't have to be "picture perfect" or get yourself cleaned up before you can come to God because He'll take you as are and He'll clean you up. He also tells us that, although we might feel lonely, we're never alone, because He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). You could have the whole world turn against you, but if you've accepted Jesus Christ into your life, no matter what happens, He'll always be there for you. It's a promise from the Bible on which you can always rely.


Not only is God always there for us, His love is perfect, without flaw, too. He sent His son Jesus Christ into the world to be like one of us, live as one of us, and die so He could pay the penalty of sin we could not pay ourselves. When you celebrate Valentine's Day this year, think of the One who loves you more than anyone else!




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God's Love in One Word...
Jesus.
www.PassTheWord.net