#ForeverLove
My inbox, mailbox, Facebook, TV and newspapers are all filled with ideas and suggestions for the celebration of Valentine’s Day, as well as the tiny little box on my computer that shows a clock stating “Valentine’s Day Tomorrow.” Difficult to ignore unless we are wearing a blindfold! I didn’t purchase a single card this year, but yesterday filled my counter with colored paper, 3X5 cards, magazines, glue sticks and lots of clip art so that two of my littles could make cards for their mommy and daddy. I decided I would text all of our girls and guys with a picture and memory that spoke of how much their Dad, Poppa, Grandpa loved each of them.
Memories of Valentine’s Day are special to all of us. Cards my love and I exchanged, and those we received from our children fill a dresser drawer in my garage and some are displayed on a mantel or shelf, including the last one I received from my love in 2017. On the day that God brought us together, in that unforgettable year, it was just eighteen days before Valentine’s day and so my first card to him had a friendship message but we both knew in our hearts that God had something very special planned for our lives. He asked me to marry him just seventeen days later.
Thoughts of what we might have done tomorrow flitted through my mind as I trimmed bushes and pulled a few weeds on this beautiful breezy February morning. Friends often share that they love our “love story” and I am forever grateful for the simple blessings, Grace and Mercy that God allowed us to enjoy as we journeyed through life, side by side.
Since Valentine’s Day falls on Friday this year and Friday mornings were often filled with doctor appointments, we might have driven to town, and my love would have asked where I wanted to have lunch, already knowing what I would choose, as I knew that at some point in the day, he would enjoy a large chocolate milk shake with no whipped cream but extra cherries so he could give them to me.
We would have exchanged cards and maybe a small gift. My last Valentine gift to him was a plant he had admired at a garden center but decided it was too expensive. I had gone back early the next morning, purchased it, then widened the flower bed and planted it near the hummingbird feeders. It was right outside the window closest to his recliner, where he could see the beautiful flowers.
His last Valentine card to me, showed an older couple, sitting on a bench together as they gazed at a Giant heart with Hallmark’s message, “We may not have invented love, but I think we’ve made it into a fine art.”. He had written inside “Don’t you?”, shared of how “his love for me had only grown deeper year by year” and, “see the couple in the picture, that could be us in 10-15 years. I love you.”
Love is not bound by a day or season. It is the answer always! It was God’s gift to us, that unconditional love of Jesus on the cross at Calvary that paid a price we could not pay, and the only thing that will make a difference in our lives today. As I read from HIS WORD each day, the words speak to my heart. As long as He allows me to be on earth, I must be faithful, and do what He calls all of us to do, love others, and “show forth His righteousness.” (Psalm 71:1-6)
Whatever your path, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Share Christ with others. “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
