Happy Valentines Day, my friends! I know, for those who are single, this day is dumb… right?
In the past year or so, I have learned incredible things about love… things I never knew or even thought about. Traveling this crazy road with my friend Rob has taught me so much about loving someone unconditionally…. that almost, perhaps just maybe, I have a small glimpse of the way in which God loves us.
I can’t really explain unconditional love. Most of our relationships, even spousal relationships, are tied to conditions, whether we realize it or not. When someone doesn’t treat us like we’d expect them to, or doesn’t say the things we think they should, we get hurt and it sometimes affects the way we think of them.
Unconditional love seems to be made up of compassion and deep understanding, a true desire to see growth and ultimate success, encouragement, forgiveness and reconciliation, combined with a genuine enjoyment of one another’s company, laughter, tears, open honesty without fear of criticism. Unconditional love is just that…. you can love the person even when they don’t make the best choice, and you are there beside them to guide them to better choices. You can love the person when they seem unlovable, when the rest of the world has turned their back on them, and love them back to safety. They know their deepest darkest secrets are as safe with you as yours are with them.
God, our Father, loves us this way…. and it doesn’t matter what we’ve done, or how many times we’ve screwed it up, He loves us back to safety. He loves us so much, in fact, that He sent His only Son to literally die in order to provide a way to reconcile our relationship with Him… the relationship that was broken by our sin.
Admittedly, this is a love that I do not fully understand. I’m not sure I ever will on this side of eternity, but I can say that, having this small piece of understanding has helped me to love others with a genuineness that can only come from God.
Be blessed today, my friends, and whether you have a personal valentine or not, know that our Heavenly Father loves you like crazy.
SB
Journey-For-Life 