Expressions of Love

Tuesday was Valentine’s Day.  There was an abundance of flowers, cards, food, sweets, and gifts to acknowledge the day.  Our grandkids had parties at school.  People seemed to go out of their way to be nice and kind.  It was a day to stop, remember, and express love and appreciation to the people who are near and dear to us. 

Larry prepares my breakfast every morning.  On Valentine’s Day he somehow managed to cook the turkey bacon and curl it into the shape of a heart.  It was a thoughtful and sweet expression of love.

Today family and friends will gather at First Methodist Church to witness the marriage ceremony of my nephew and his beautiful bride.  Erich and Kelley will express their love and commitment to each other as they begin their journey of a lifetime as husband and wife.

During these days of war, uncertainty, and unrest the chorus of the song, “What the World Needs Now is Love” by Hal David reminds us:

What the world needs now is love sweet love,

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.

What the world needs now is love sweet love,

No not just for some but for everyone.

Every day could be Valentine’s Day if people knew and had a relationship with the Source of Love.  I John 4:8b states that “God is love.”  May we be willing to express and act on that message of love all year long.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

I John 4:9, 10

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:13

We love because he first loved us.

I John 4:19

Do everything in love.

I Corinthians 16:14