little did she know...: this thing called Love

It’s true. I love Valentine’s day.

Today Bradford reminded me of what it was like to be in elementary school. Everyone, even the boys, got everyone Valentines. And you made those little mailboxes in art class or just a big envelope decorated with all sorts of happy pink and red heart shaped things. Whatever the case may have been, you did come home that afternoon with a pleasantly plump pouch of Valentines greetings. Extra points for the ones with candy somehow attached. Bradfords was the extra points kind. Mine, I do not believe, ever were, but I remember loving picking out my Valentine box and deciding which Care Bear to wish my crush a happy Valentines day with.

my friend Lizzie's little sis made this for me-so so cute

Besides that, my Valentines days always began happily, because Mama made sure her little chickees knew they were loved. There was always candy and a little stuffed and behearted creature to remind us that we are special to her, and that is enough.

my favorite Valentine

I liked it less in high school, but I still liked it. I still planned a pink or red outfit to don through the halls of torture. Hey, you have to have something to get excited about sometimes in high school, and if it was a holiday that allowed me to plan an outfit that was different than the norm, than so be it. And mama always still made me feel special, and because of her, it was still a special day.

College Valentines days were tumultuous at times (suffice it to say I had my hopelessly melodramatic girltastic moments)

but I always received that ever-welcome, ever-faithful (in a real live mailbox this time) envelope full of happily heart-shaped blessings. Socks were my favorite of the mama sent goodies and there were always socks. And there were always extra gifts for my roommates and good friends, because that’s the kind of Mama I have.

these were a Mama special a couple of years ago and they are still going so strong. I love them but really, what's not to love about these badboys

And post-college? Valentines day has shed any last shred of sadness or girlariffic emotional roller coasters. It is now just a lovely day that will always remind me of the unconditional love that I have known all of my life.

A love that I want to share in a special way on this day with others in the form of pink and red heartified envelopes full of happy things. Mama has inspired me all of my life with her love for others. It has always been through and with Christ that her love has come through to us, so we have felt the effects of the supernatural quality of the One Who is loving us through my Mama.

The arms she extends to us are the arms of Jesus. The Valentine’s gifts were always just a little reminder of her love for us that we treasured for the day and perhaps did not continue to appreciate past February 15th. But I remember them now. And I appreciate them more than I ever did before. Just like I look back now at the endless loads of laundry, the house cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, errand running, and wonderful care taking of our little souls that my Mama did every single day.

Like Jesus’ little reminders every day of His extravagant Love for us-the ones that we may not even notice because they happen all of the time. A sunset

a feathered white cloud against the backdrop of perfectly blue sky

a cup of coffee with the perfect ratio of cream to coffee (3 parts coffee 1 part cream), golden morning sunshine, pink roses

the smile of a little dumpling

a hug from someone you love

sidewalk chalk and the ability to do it

It really is a complete gift that I can hold a piece of chalk and make a simple drawing-I could never have given that ability to myself. His Love is imprinted in each of these beautiful gifts that we pass over as if they were nothing more than what we deserve. What did we do to deserve it, I ask? What is man that He is mindful of us (from Psalm 8:4)?

On this Valentine’s day, I am thankful for the Love of Christ reflected in the little gifts that my Mama gave me all of my life on this day. I am thankful that through these little things, she showed me the One Who Loves us in all things.

Let Him Love you in His Valentine’s gifts to you today. Wear something pink or red or BOTH. You can bet your sweet cupid’s arrow I will be rockin’ both colors.

As Delilah would say (please tell me y’all know who Delilah is) Slow down and love someone...
As Dumbledore would say “Alas. Earwax”
As George Banks would say “I am removing the superfluous buns”

Had enough? I’ll end on a real note. I know that a lot of people roll their eyes when they hear this Scripture passage read at a wedding because it is done so often, but their is nothing ordinary or redundant about this reading if one truly pays attention. It is so beautiful and so completely challenging and humbling. We could never even begin to achieve such beauty and true Love without grace being poured into our hearts at all times. Just a reminder that no matter what human love may disappoint you and how disappointed you may feel at being human and thus lacking the ability to love as you would like to, there is One Who Loves you just like this. Exactly as we all desire to be loved at every moment. He Loves us like that and infinitely more than we can fathom.

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three

but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-13