Feb 14th, 2021: Love One Another

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"What are you guys going to do for Valentine?" is the question people might ask some of us on this day. With someone like me who has been married for 40 years, they might get a blank look. It is not because I don't love my wife. But the whole notion of having one day to express my appreciation for someone I love is absurd. It is easy to go all out in one day. It is a lot more meaningful to give oneself more wholly to the other all the time. That is when we realize that we all fall short.


It is like celebrating a birthday while forgetting how to live. I don't make a big deal about birthday either because I would prefer to appreciate life as it happens. Sometimes I wonder why the number of years is a big deal when many never get their chance of being alive. Whenever I think about my birthday, I am solemn with that thoughts. 


No doubt that there is a great need for love in this world. Many people never have a chance to experience love. The absence of love has damaged many people before they enter the world. Many young people have been abused by those who are supposed to care for them. These abuses don't have racial barriers. They don't have social or economic ones either.


Let us learn to be more than just lovers on this day. Let us discover what it means to be lovers of God and people. We can give flowers and chocolate as signs of our love for one another while knowing that they are temporal. When a husband loves his wife more and more daily, romance is not a very big part of his life. There is an oneness that occurs, and that can experience by learning of dying to oneself.

 

Happy Valentine's, and make sure you kiss your wife and hug your kids if you can today.


1 John 4: 18

" There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. "


Ephesians 5: 25

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

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