Love

It was a monumental day. I was excited and nervous and full of anticipation. It was Valentine's Day. But it wasn't just any Valentine's Day...it was a Valentine's Day when I had a man in my life. I was in the fourth grade and his name was Clay. He gave me a giant solid milk chocolate heart wrapped in red foil and a football valentine, and I gave him a heart-shaped tin full of sweet tarts. We walked up to each other on the playground, exchanged gifts without so much as a word, and parted ways. It was pretty thrilling.

Until this year, that fourth grade Valentine's Day was the only one that I have spent in a relationship. (There are many reasons for this - but I primarily blame screwed up youth group anti-dating theology - anyway, that's another blog for another day.) Now, fourteen years later, I get to spend Valentine's Day with the man who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. Talk about thrilling! I am getting married in June and we are so busy with work and planning and school, that there isn't much time to make elaborate Valentine's plans, but I honestly don't care at all.

It's amazing how love--real love--puts things into perspective.

- I don't have to have a giant wedding. I just want to be Curtis's wife.

- We don't have to go on a perfect honeymoon. I would stay at the Bed and Breakfast in Post, TX if he was going to be there.

- While they're nice, we don't need all of the wonderful gifts that we registered for. Our home isn't going to be about the stuff that's inside of it, it's going to be about building a life together based on our love for God and each other.

- I don't have to have flowers and candy and giant stuffed animals on February 14th. Because I have the person who I'm going to get to spend every Valentine's Day with for the rest of my life.


The truth is, we will have a big wedding. Our honeymoon is going to be wonderful. We will probably be given some wonderful gifts. And we will most likely at least acknowledge our first Valentine's Day together. But those aren't the things that really matter. What really matters is that we have this incredible gift of love for one another that is just a shallow reflection of our Father's love for us. And if I can be so overwhelmed by the love of my husband-to-be that I am willing to sacrifice anything for him and for that love, how much more should I be willing to sacrifice for the love of God?