Love + Valentine's Day
I love an excuse to celebrate. Birthdays, holidays or friends coming in from out of town.
I even love Valentine’s Day. Yes, I said it. What, for some, is the most dreaded holiday of the year, comes with joy for me. Perhaps this is because it also falls on my half birthday, and my parents always celebrated those. See where I get it now?
Although I’ve spent the majority of my Valentine’s single, I love the day we get to celebrate love. In grade school, it was always a treat to have your Valentine’s Day party, decorate your box and make Valentine’s for your classmates. As a college student, I celebrated “Galentine’s Day” by enjoying dinner and a NBA game with two of my girlfriends. I’ve never found myself bitter towards February 14th or sad.
As Valentine’s Day approached this year, I thought a lot about love. Not in the intimate relationship sense, but just in general. Lately, I’ve felt extremely blessed by all the magnificent people in my life. I can see the love I have for them and all they do for me.
I felt myself being pushed to understand God and His love for me.
The week of Valentine’s Day I wrote this down from Francis Chan’s Crazy Love devotional on the YouVersion app (Chan credited it to a book called God is the Gospel by John Piper) :
““The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If we could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict, or natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ was not there?” ”
Maybe you just read this question, and like me, you thought, “Wow! This sounds so good.” Then, you reached the final question and felt immense guilt.
I sat with this question for a day or two. This lead to a two-hour meeting with Jesus the Tuesday night before Valentine’s Day.
Okay Jesus, we need to talk.
Would I be satisfied if you weren’t there? And if so, what does that say about me?
The truth is, I haven’t been praying as often as I should. It was in Pastor Todd’s “Worship is Love Expressed” sermon that he reminds us that God never misses an appointment with us. We, however, miss appointments with Him.
So last Tuesday, when I felt this appointment on my heart, I didn’t let it pass by.
So here are some meeting notes:
It began with Psalm 139. Pastor Todd mentioned this in his All Strings Attached message.
““You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted in all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.””
Our actions, words and thoughts are known by God. He is acquainted in all of our ways. The question I asked myself is, am I strangers or acquaintances with Him?
““Holy Spirit, I surrender to you
Take my life I lay it down
All my gifts and all my crowns
I am Yours
I am in love, in undivided focus””
During this meeting, I had Spotify’s Calming Christian playlist on.
Undivided Focus by Heather Clark came on. Her words hit me.
Wow. Undivided focus.
When I heard this, I realized that is exactly what I wasn’t giving God.
So I wrote down these questions:
1. What is pulling my focus away from Him?
2. How would I show undivided focus in a relationship? Is that how I approach God?
I was able to recognize that not prioritizing these “appointments” with God and time wasted on social media were a few things pulling away my focus.
Then, I thought about my past relationships. You know, the ones where you’re head over heels, in love, smitten or whatever you want to call it?!
You wake up thinking about that person. All day you want to talk to them. You can’t wait to get the chance. You want to do things for them, and be with them. You give of your time, energy and thoughtfulness generously.
You want to talk to them about who they are and understand them.
You want to ask them what they want (whether that’s their favorite dish at a restaurant or what they want to do with their life).
You want to know what they’re doing and be a part of it.
I wrote these three things down
Talk to Him about who He is.
Ask Him what He wants.
See what He is doing and take part in it.
If I was in relationship, I thought, if I was “smitten” with Jesus. I would do these things.
““How precious are your thoughts, Lord.””
I read this verse. You would treat getting to know the one you loved, and his or her thoughts like they were the most precious things in the world!
You would give them your undivided focus.
Having defined what being in love with Jesus would look like for me, I closed my eyes and went back to the question that if Christ was not in heaven, would I be satisfied?
I pictured myself arriving to a party.
I walked in the door and was greeted by everyone I love. Those who are in heaven now, those I rarely see here on earth and those I see often. All of my favorite foods were out on the table. Light was all around us. Laughter was in the air and the best music. No one was sick, all were healed. We went outside to a sunny, perfect day. We ran and did not grow weary. We hopped in a convertible and went on a road trip. We saw the world. We swam in the bluest seas. Sang at the top of our lungs. We stood in awe of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. My body is never tense. Kissed in the most tender of way. Stood in awe of the tallest mountains and deepest valleys. We didn’t fear hurricanes or tornadoes. We didn’t fear anything. There was no drama. Only love and light. I was at peace.
Would you be satisfied with all of that, I asked myself, if you walked right through the door, and ignored the host?
You walk through the door and your eyes immediately go to the food, the friends or the opportunities to dive in the ocean and drive the coast.
As any good southern lady knows, you wouldn’t dare. You wouldn’t dare lose focus of the host—the one generously welcoming you into their home, their riches. You would humbly thank them. They would be the first person you greet.
I saw myself this time walking through the door, it being held open by Jesus. I couldn’t wait for Him to open the door. I squeezed Him with all of my might!
I couldn’t, I realized, be satisfied with heaven if Christ wasn’t there. I wanted to embrace the giver of all this grace! Even if all my needs and wants were met, I would still want to know Him.
I want to experience all of the joys of heaven with Him. Just like when you’re in love with someone, you want to experience all life has to offer the two of you together. You want to invite them into your thoughts and actions. Your adventures and your secrets.
So think about what your heaven would look like. Who would be there? What you would do? What would you want to see and enjoy? How would you feel?
Would you accept this invitation without ever getting to meet the host? Would you get lost in the fun of all of it and forget why you’re there? Would you go to the event and not thank the host or acknowledge him or her?
If you’re like me, and decided that was not an option—that you want to accept the invitation to the party because of who invited you, and not the opportunity of the party—then I want to challenge you to begin acting in love with Him.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. How would you give the one you love undivided focus?
2. What’s pulling you away from that focus?
3. How are you celebrating the love He gives you?
4. How would you celebrate in heaven?
5. Would you be satisfied with the invitation, without ever knowing the host?
Happy Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re single, married, engaged or in a relationship, you have someone who loved you before the world did. Who never misses an appointment. Who wants to know you and always invites you to the party.
This Letter Contains Love,
Lily Rain