LOVE💘

Maybe my favorite holiday is St. Valentine’s day. ❤ Think of it: the Christian life is a life of loving others and being loved. We are loved by God, loved by our brothers and sisters, and we spend ourselves–our lives–loving others. A day devoted to reflecting on LOVE is a day that has my full support.

I am not a very sentimental person but I do think it important to take the opportunity to celebrate the people we have been given to love. Our children usually enjoy this holiday too for obvious reasons. To them Valentine’s day is akin to 2nd Christmas.

Because we are in qurantine I fully expected the holiday to be different….as in a total disappointment. Instead, I found that patience and a little modification goes a long way. We got to celebrate each other and share in gift giving and it was very sweet.

My plan was to wake up and get going on our list. On white board marker safe surfaces we write full lists of all the ways we can see God’s love for us. The lists end up loooooooong. This practice brings lots of joy. Count your blessings. It will change your life😉.

My plans were thwarted though… instead I woke up and found a post it note attached to my phone. I do not sleep with my phone in the same room so this meant someone put a note on my phone and put my phone near me whilst I slept 🙃 Another note was on the inside of my closet. More notes on the bathroom mirror and several more on the living room sliding glass doors that open to the enclosed balcony. 💕

The best of all were the ones for the girls from their dad telling our daughters what a joy and blessing they are to his life.

🥰

Sometimes a gift is a cup of coffee or post it notes in conspicuous and non conspicuous corners of the house declaring affection, commitment, delight, steadfast friendship and reasons for love.

After these findings we joined into Sunday morning church services online and then we started on our lists.

What gifts we did buy cannot yet be enjoyed: the jewelry we bought for our daughters was sent to our parents for safe keeping. Grandmother did a live un-boxing so the girls could see their gifts which was more delightful than I anticipated. Part of that is because she’s so amazing. It also gave us an excuse to chat with someone we love.

We called friends and family and chatted for a while. Then we scoured the internet and secretly purchased new Rollerblades for the girls. They can’t really skate as they are still in quarantine. One of them asked to skate in the house yesterday–🤣

…so we cleared the entire living area and let her have a go. It was actually a good time. I got to teach her how to brake. 🛼

💌

Valentine’s day also invites reflection. Over the years quietness and trust have been a strength. I find God’s word to be true: in quietness and trust shall be your strength. As we wait, we find our strength renewed.

Setting our minds on all the ways we have been cared for and loved by God is reason enough to celebrate this St. Valentine’s day.

In quarantine and in being away we’ve seen the care and love of God via our home church as well as campus community. A person shovels our walkway or checks on our mail. Therein are we loved. A family brings us food and takes away our garbage. Therein are we loved again. Evidences are everywhere if we have eyes to see.

As we consider these last few days of quarantine one big way we will get to participate in loving others now will be to serve meals and take out the garbage for other families in quarantine! We are looking forward to being able to do this.

LOVE never fails.

💕