The Valentine

The mail came.
There was a small envelope addressed to me.
I opened it up to find a valentine.
A simple card…signed only with Your secret admirer.

I was a sophomore in high school.
I kept that card in my room trying to imagine who could have sent it to me.
There was a boy I admired from afar…
But he was quiet…studious.
It couldn’t be from him!

I saved the envelope simply because the printing was very distinct.
The Sherlock Holmes in me knew that I could crack this case.
Whoever this person was, they printed their “R’s” very uniquely.
Instead of the right leg of the “R” going on a slant, this one went straight out to the side.
Every time!

Time passed and I was no closer to solving the mystery.
In fact, after a while, I forgot all about it.

The science fair rolled around and we were all expected to participate.
I did a plant experiment…Do human vitamins aid in plant growth?
The results were not very impressive…but the artistic side of me presented it well.

I walked around the gym where all of the projects were displayed.
Something caught my eye…and I did a double take!
There was the “R” on a poster with the right leg going straight out to the side…every time!

We weren’t supposed to touch any of the displays.
I had to look at the name on the front of the report.
It was the boy I liked from afar…the quiet one…the studious one.

I never said anything to him…and he never said anything to me about the card.
That boy took me to the Soph Hop, the Junior Prom, and the Senior Prom.
That boy went off to college in Atlanta.
He called me weekly from a pay phone until he got a phone in his room.
That boy became my husband…thirty-one years ago.

I asked him about the valentine.
He said it was not from him!
There was something behind his smile when he said that, however.
Lots of people make their “R’s” that way!

I can live with that secret.
If it truly wasn’t him…then I never did solve the mystery of the secret admirer.
Though five children, and a whole lifetime later…I know I married the right man!

We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Remember the days of giving valentines at school?
You had to make a mailbox out of an empty cereal box.
You were able to decorate it any way you wanted.
Girls had lots of red hearts and white doilies.
Boys had cars and super-heroes.

Friends delivered their valentines to your box.
You walked home with your prized possession under you arm.
It was there…at home…where you could finally open your cards.
Sometimes, there were candy hearts inside…sometimes chocolate kisses, or stickers.

Often, there would be a valentine stuck on the bottom of the box.
It was the valentine you would find days later.
It was from the one friend you thought had forgotten you.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.
(1 John 4:7,8)

The sentimentality of greeting card love…the emotionality that is found between the pages of a love story…cannot begin to convey the meaning of real love.

Real love is given at the expense of the Giver.
Real love is self-less.
Real love never leaves or forsakes.
Real love is unconditional.
The One who really loves keeps the promises, when the other breaks them.

Real love is impossible apart from God because God is love. (1 John 4:16)
He is the One who keeps His promises.
We are the ones who keep breaking them.

We often burden those we love with our expectations.
We expect them to love us with the kind of love that only God can give.

You can only truly love someone when you first love God.
Loving God first allows you to love the other person better.

The lifeblood of any relationship is found in the Blood of Christ.

Our relationships are missing a vital piece when Christ is not present.
Dating relationships, in order to be pure and self-less, need Christ at the center.
Marriage, instituted by God, needs Christ at the center.
Parenting, a gift from God, needs Christ at the center.
Friendships, an extension of God, needs Christ at the center.

God the Father has sent His children a love letter.
The letter contains only one Word: JESUS.
Jesus..who is Love Incarnate.

Jesus, who went to the cross and had His heart pierced.
Blood and water flowed out of that sinless heart.
No love could ever have been sweeter…truer…more beautiful.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Those words are written on God’s Valentine.
Written in Blood.
Those who believe are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Forever.

God’s Love will never let you go!
If God had a candy heart in His hand, it would read…The One I Love!
No love could ever be as pure or as true.