A Word for the Lonely on Valentine's Day.

Sometimes there are certain days that ache more. Days that mark milestones and days that hold special meaning.... birthdays and holidays and anniversaries.... 

So Valentine's Day is upon us... and maybe you feel an ache. Maybe things aren't the way you wish they were or maybe there is a certain way you imagine the day and you know once again that you will most likely be disappointed. 

Maybe you don't currently have a significant other and this day magnifies that reality and you wonder when it'll be your turn and you kinda(just a little bit) want to throw up in your mouth at all the ooey-gooey mushy pictures and phrases and reminders of what you don't have.

Or maybe you have your 'valentine' but there's hurt or distance or regret and when you think of celebrating you feel a little.... bleh. And maybe this 'day of love' holds painful memories that you just can't quite get over or good ones that the 'now' can't measure up to.

Maybe you wonder how he doesn't know which are your favorite flowers or your choice chocolates or the fact that you'd rather get a pedicure then add inches to your waistline or you feel like you should have it all and then some for the birthing of the babies and the washing of the underwear and the cooking of the meals. 

And maybe with all the hoopla surrounding this commercialized day that awakens desires for romance and whirlwind and fairy tales and all that jazz.... maybe you feel really lonely.

I sure can.

And maybe not... maybe things for you are great, but maybe you want to dare to ask for more than just candlelight and candy and ridiculously expensive cards. 

Now, Valentine's day may just be a modern excuse for a bunch of people to make more money and for an extra pinterest board and a whole lot of stress for moms and males alike....But what if we took this day and celebrated the Love that loved us so extravagantly that He came and died and lives so we can know this LOVE???

"The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:8-10

What if we asked Him to open our hearts so that we'd fall deeper and deeper into a wildly adventurous love affair with Him?

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit." Psalm 51:10-12

"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." 1 John 5:14

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19

What if we let Him pull us close into His tender embrace and bask in the comfort that He offers?

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

What if we sit adoringly at His feet and let Him delight fully in us and listen as He joyfully sings over us?

"The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

What if we stare long into the eyes our Bridegroom.... finding safety in the intimacy of being completely known and completely loved....

"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10:14-15

"O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it." Psalm 139:1-6

The God who hears us, Who sees us, Who created that very flower we enjoy so much.

The God who doesn't forsake, never abandons, cannot betray....Who is gentle and patient and kind.

The God who gives Light to our darkness, strength to our weakness,  redeems all of our failings, and satisfies all of our desires.

Oh friends, when we stop and meditate on how He loves us... surely there will never be a Valentine's day romantic to-do that will ever beat that.