Hi Friends,
I've been out of town helping mom through her cataract/glaucoma surgery, so didn't get a chance to post for Valentine's Day.
But messages about love are good year round, so here's a fun story and some encouraging words to love not just in words (or in Valentines) but in action.
This happened several years ago ...
Love is Not a Paper Heart
He tottered down the stairs, a little boy in fuzzy penguin pajamas and sleep still damp in his eyes. He rubbed his face and squinted down at me. “I’m hungry. What’s for breakfast?”
I smiled at him. “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
His dewy eyes grew round. “Oh!” He spun on the bottom stair and raced back up to his room.
A moment later he returned with an armload of construction-paper masterpieces. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mommy! I love you!” He mumble-shouted the words from behind the mound of brightly colored art. “Come on.” He trotted to the couch, his arms carefully bent to hold the papers without crushing them.
He sat. I sat beside him.
He placed his load on his lap. Then, with a big grin, he took each piece of artwork and gave it to me. First came a giant purple heart (my favorite color) with the words I Luv U inscribed on the front in brown crayon. Next he gave me a cut-out flower in a paper pot. Then there were three cards with various animals drawn on the front and lopsided hearts inside. Two more cut-out hearts and three flower drawings, and his lap was empty. Then he gave his last gift: six little-boy hugs, five big-smacking cheek-kisses, and numerous declarations of undying love for Mommy.
He had just given me one last big bear squeeze when his twins sisters came down the stairs.
Two mussy-haired, pajama-clad ten-year-olds stumbled to the kitchen. Bria yawned. “I’m going to make some eggs. Who wants some?”
I stood. “Can you make some for Jayden, please?”
Jayden jumped up. “Ewwww, I don’t like Breeeeeea’s eggs.”
A pan slapped against the counter in the kitchen. “Fine, you don’t have to have any!”
Jayden grabbed my arm. “Mommy, will you make me some eggs?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, hurried out of the living room and headed toward the kitchen.
I groaned. I knew what was coming. So did Jayna, Bria’s twin. She rushed outside to feed the cats. The door slammed behind her. I wanted to follow.
I didn’t. Instead, I made my way into the kitchen.
Too late.
My sweet little, loving boy had already turned into a monster. He danced around Bria, making goofy faces and chanting nonsense.
Bria pushed past him.
He followed. “Ewwww, don’t touch me. Your hair looks funny. Mom, Bria pushed me!”
And that was all it took. A moment later, Bria was yelling and crying and chaos had broken loose once again.
Ah, it was just so fun to pester Sister. Fun for Jayden. Not fun for Mom.
So, like every morning, I stopped the teasing, I settled Bria, Jayden got in trouble, and I got tired.
Then, he stuck out his tongue at her one last time.
Bria glared at me and stabbed the spatula in his direction. “Mom!”
I sighed. “Jayden!” My voice turned harsh. “You say that you love me, and then the very next thing you do is pester someone I love and make our family life miserable. That's not what love ought to look like!”
I paused. That’s not what real love looks like at all. And I wondered. Is that what my love for God looked like? Did I heap him with praises and declarations of love, only to turn around and be unkind to those he loves? I may not tease and stick out my tongue, but were my words and actions consistent with the love I claimed for God?
John wrote in John 4:20 (NIV), “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
Jayden’s just a spunky little brother who loves to get a reaction from his big sister. But I’m all grown up. It’s time I realize that love, especially love for God, is not found in paper cut-out hearts or passionate pronouncements. Love is treating people with kindness, respect, unselfishness, mercy, generosity, and no-little-brother-pesty-ness because they are beloved of the One I love.
“‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,’” Jesus says in Matthew 25:40 (NIV).
So this Valentine’s Day, as I gather up my construction paper treasures, I will remember that this day of love isn’t about cards and chocolate hearts, meals out, or romantic candlelight. It’s about seeing others as God’s beloved and treating them like the treasures they are.
