...all you need is love....
That's how the famous song goes.

It's true this world needs love...

What is love?
We experience it as newborns and as we grow into mature human beings.
It is the ingredient that propels us and inspires us to venture into our dreams and life adventure.

Human love:
It feeds us, nurtures us and helps us feel secure.
It does so many things, the list is endless.
There is a love, though, that is eternal.

In the book of life it says:
"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
1 John 4:6

How can a divine being personify love... It is a mystery.

Another powerful passage is this one:
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Wow, God gives us a very high standard when it comes to love.
But there is another scene that stands out to me when it comes to love..
This one occurs in the Bible when the pharisees bring a woman to Jesus who was caught in the act of adultery.

It goes like this:
“they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
.... He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." 
‭‭John‬ ‭8:4, 7, 9-11‬ 

To me this is love.

When she deserved stoning (according to Mosaic law) she received protection.
When she felt shame, He covered her. When she was despised, He forgave.
"'Love' (Jesus) covers a multitude of sins"
When someone deserves punishment but instead receives forgiveness and kindness...

this is true love.

Helene

"Be my Valentine" was a phrase that rang across the school halls packaged in a so very sweet little card presentation and I grew up hearing it every year during this time of year....
Its influence was real when I was young and a painful reminder at times when I didn't have a 'Valentine'.  
Back then I was in love with the idea of 'being in 'Love' and my friends and I thought we were very cool.
But there was one friend who was different and she stood out from the rest. She would speak to me about Jesus and how he cared about my love life. 
Surprised I would say "Jesus actually cares about my personal life?"
She responded 'Yes He does'
This was a new and radical concept for me, a Catholic girl who went to church at Christmas and Easter.
It would be one of the many radical truths my new friend would whisper to me in the middle of ballet class. We took every opportunity to chat during those years at ballet school......they were good days.
But let me fast forward to my graduating year when this exceptional friend would invite me 'one more time' to attend her church on Sunday.  This time, I would say yes, and it would forever change the course of my life and my eternal destiny.  
On that day, as God's word says 'angels in heaven celebrated my new life in Jesus.
But the story does not end there ...
Because she would then give me my first bible on Valentine's Day.  In it she would write that no boy would ever love me as much as Jesus does.
It's true, not one.
On that day the course of my life was forever changed!
His Word became my guiding light and the compass for my life. 

These words couldn't ring more true today as they did back then:
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost

During this season of love let's be thankful we know the One who adds no conditions to His Love.
But gifts us with true unconditional love:
His name is Jesus.

My true Valentine. 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

​Helene