Happy Valentine's Day

Cheers to all of you who find yourself again in the midst of celebrating that time honored tradition known as ‘Valentine’s Day.’ This post is a tribute to all those who are ‘in love’, are considering love, or who are in love with the idea of being ‘in love’. Let’s face it~ Love wins! As a Christian, I believe that this is because we were created by One who is the very essence of love...it’s in our DNA. Everyone wants to be loved and to have someone in their lives that they can give love to and receive love from. It’s in our nature. Love is what makes us laugh and cry, brings joy and sorrow, and causes us to do both the stupidest and most courageous things imaginable. Love is what fuels our passion and allows us to sacrifice for family, friends, and even people in need that we’ve never met. Love is a healing balm after a devastating tragedy. It’s a high ideal that inspires us to be more and embrace more life than we ever dared to. Love is a choice that pushes us beyond our own selfishness and challenges us to risk far more than we have the emotional or physical resources to give. Real love, true love understands that its source doesn’t come from human will or determination. It doesn’t come from altruism, from a pure heart from within our own humanness, but rather from the One who is Himself, love personified. As He pours into us, we can pour into others. If you don’t know or receive from the Source, then you don’t know true love...only a form of it which will inevitably run out or be compromised by human frailty. I have been very blessed to have come from a family who knew this reality. My parents have been an example of true love for the past 53 years of their marriage. They have walked it out in front of 5 watching children and thousands of other people in those 50 plus years, and are still happily doing it today. Can I say that they did it perfectly? No. Can anyone? Were there times of gritting their teeth and choosing to love in spite of themselves...I’m sure! But in the end, what I see are parents who spend just about every waking moment together. They live together, laugh together, take care of each other, finish each other’s sentences, and wouldn’t have it any other way. They are the proverbial “two who have become one.” Without their knowledge of the Source of their love, would they have made it 53 years? Maybe, maybe not...I can’t say for sure. What I can say is that because they do know where true love comes from, they have lived well and loved well. They have left a legacy of love that their children have also followed with 20-30 year marriages of their own. So here’s to you Mom and Dad! Well done...and Happy Valentine’s Day to two true sweethearts!