Love is Always Present

 

  In honor of Valentine´s Day, I wanted to write this as a reminder that each and every one of you are loved unconditionally.

        I remember when Valentine´s Day was a holiday I looked forward to each year growing up. Decorating a box and exchanging all kinds of goodies and cards with my classmates in elementary school was always something I had fun doing. I would wake up for school every Valentine´s Day morning to find heart shaped boxes of chocolate or a large stuffed animal from my parents in my kitchen. Valentines Day was a day I could enjoy as a child. Now that I´m older however, the excitement of Valentines Day is gone.

        As you all know already, Valentines Day is a day to recognize love. It doesn´t specify a category of love, but sometimes I just get the feeling that the world encourages love in a more romantic way rather than in a general Christ-Like way. If you´re single like me and have never had a Valentine in your life to celebrate with, you might feel like this day doesn´t apply for you. Maybe for you it´s painful scrolling through your social medias and seeing posts of dating or married couples expressing their love and affection for one another. Sometimes I´ll try and put on this demeanor that love is ¨cringe¨ and weird. The truth is that deep down, I crave to have that love for myself. As Valentine´s Day passes each year, I get tempted to worry that I´ll never have a Valentine to celebrate with. When I was in Kindergarten, there was this boy in my class who admired me. He gave me a plastic ring and made me a card for Valentine´s Day. At that age I had absolutely no interest in boys. The class made fun of me for a boy liking me, and I cried tears of frustration. I just wanted the boy to leave me alone. Sometimes I wish I was still like that.

    Here is what I believe on the background behind ¨love¨: Love first started when God said, ¨Let there be light.¨ (Genesis 1:3) He created the world, and filled it with animals and people. Over everything he had created, he loved the people more. Romantic love began when God created Adam, and he saw that Adam was lonely. He loved Adam and didn´t want him to be alone, so he created Eve to give to him as a partner. The romantic love and chemistry between man and woman would not have existed if it weren´t for God´s love first.

    Romantic relationships are encouraged by the Lord. Having feelings for the opposite sex and a desire to pursue them is completely normal, but it can also become evil if it´s more important than pursuing the Lord. It´s important to remember that this world is only temporary. While they may bring you joy now, all the things in it and all the people in it will fail you. This includes friendships, family members, and even romantic relationships. Your significant other will not save you from an eternal life in hell whether they seek the Lord´s love first or not. They are imperfect humans like you, and are incapable. Because they are imperfect, there is also the possibility of them cheating on you, divorcing or breaking up with you, dying at an unpredictable time, or simply abandoning you. 

    Consider the scenario´s I listed. Let´s say you had been in a relationship with someone for a few years. You had devoted so much time into growing the bond between the two of you, and they had become the center of your life. You became so committed to marrying this person, you ended up pushing all your friendships away. One day out of nowhere, your partner decides to break up with you. If this one person was the only thing that you ever cared about, how do you think you would feel if it turned out that they didn´t care as much about you? Personally for me it would be a complete nightmare. When I play that scenario in my head it makes me feel more relieved that I´m still waiting for a Valentine rather than spending Valentine´s Day single and remembering a previous Valentine I had that wasn´t meant to last in the first place. 

    Worldly romantic love is not true love if Godly love is not put first. What the world needs to recognized is that God´s love is for everyone, whether they are single or in a relationship. 

            ¨Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.¨ (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

    This is what God´s love is all about. While a breakup may end a romantic relationship, God´s love never ends. It is a love that is designed for all humans, and he encourages us to use it with one another.

    I totally understand the desire for a romantic relationship. I feel like I would give anything to have that special bond God designed for men and women to have. One of my desire´s is to become a wife and mother someday, and obviously that´s only possible with a romantic relationship. What I have had to learn though is that God´s love requires trust. I have to trust that God has a reason on why I am once again single this Valentine´s Day. It lifts so much weight off my shoulders knowing that he knows what´s best for me.

    I can´t make any certain promises that God will eventually give you your Valentine, but I can say that you will be happy regardless as long as God is your number one priority. God also finds delight in men and women getting into Godly marriages and having children. If you are a true follower of God and you desire to be in a Godly relationship, I can almost guarantee that God will make you a bride or groom someday. 

    Until then, I encourage all the single´s reading this to spend Valentine´s Day celebrating God´s love with God and everyone around you. If you´re in a relationship, I pray that God will bless you and your partner. I encourage you and your partner to celebrate your love for one another, as well as your love for the Lord and everyone around you. Let´s make Valentine´s Day about the most important love of all, which is the love God brings. 

-Love you all, and Happy Valentine´s Day!

Emma