The Source of Love

"We become truly personal by loving God and by loving other humans... In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of the Creator in us." - Kallistos Ware

Today is a day of love, Valentine’s Day.  It is a day to express to all those most important people in your life how important and loved they are.  There will be flowers, chocolates, diamonds, cards, and much, much more given as tokens of love as we observe this highly celebrated day.

According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day has quite a history starting back in 496 AD honoring one or more Christian martyrs.  The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

I once told my Mom she was my very first Valentine, and on earth she was.  But the source of love, my Father in Heaven is truly my very, very first Valentine.  He gave me life, pursued, and courted me until the day I accepted his son Jesus Christ as my savior.  That day I was bound forever into a never ending love story with my maker.

Very few acknowledgements are made regarding the love of God on Valentine’s Day, and that is sad because God IS love.  “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  1 John 4:8

He is the very essence of love and longs to have relationships with His children (us) and for us to having loving relationships with others.  We are commanded to even love our enemies.  It IS our purpose for being here.

The sweet love shown on Valentine’s Day should not be confined to just one day.  Just think of how much more successful our marriages and relationships would be if the source of love, God, is where we went to draw strength in reaching out to others. 

“We love because he first loved us.”  1 John 4:19