Love...

It's valentines season...and you know what that means. The stores are full of stuffed animals, chocolate and plenty of other red, pink and white items intended to set your heart swooning. Not that any of that is a bad thing. I love chocolate. I love...love?? I love letting the people I love know that I love them. I love feeling loved. Pink and red aren't two of my favorite colors, but they are festive, and I enjoy eating things that are pink. All the baked goods are right up my alley.

But, I do have a problem with this sign hanging in a particular superstore that shall remain nameless...

Folks, are we serious??

We as a society have totally forgotten what love is and what love means. I forget in my day to day life.

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years" Genesis 1:14

God intended for us to have seasons, and ways to mark time. Later, he commands the Israelites to celebrate several specific festivals as a way to remember things God did for them and pass those things on to their children. Let me be clear. Valentines day was not one of those festivals. :) But, what is wrong with taking holidays celebrated by our culture as a whole and using them as an opportunity to remind ourselves about God, teach our children about God, and share God with those who may not know Him? What if we took a holiday primarily about chocolate and pink- and tried to intentionally make it about Love- and God? After all,

God is love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:16b

We can never know what love truly is until we know God. Because he IS love. He doesn't just love. Love is his nature, character and person. It covers all He does and is. It's amazing. And we were made to know Him, and know his love. Until we find it, we turn to candy, men, movies, cupid, flowers, and all manner of pink and red things to try and fill the void. And it will always let us down. There is only one true Love...and one true way to find it.

So, this Valentines day, why not join me in celebrating the God who loves and made all our other loves possible?

Idea posts to come.