"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