A Letter to All of Humanity: Valentines Day
To any living and breathing person: Happy Valentines Day. You are delighted in with gladness. With love, your fears will be calmed. You will be rejoiced over with joyful songs. I write to you in hopes that you might let those words sink in. That you might read those words and ache for them to be true in your life. I typed them into this post crossing my fingers that maybe for the first time, or maybe for the bajillionth time, you would know those words are true for you and your life. They can be an everyday reality. Note: I am not telling you to date Jesus.
If you have lost your valentine, I am here to tell you that you are going to make it. You are precious. Your story is not over. You are more.
If you are struggling with your valentine, fighting for the last string of your marriage, clenching your teeth and keeping the tears inside your brains, I am here to tell you that you are not the only couple struggling. I see you and I am here to tell you that I honor your fight for love, for marriage. You are brave - you may not have the romantic-butterfly love, but you are doing the hard and gritty work of fighting for commitment, and that deserves honor.
If you're female, you are absolutely beautiful. From the inside of you, penetrating through your being to the outward visibility. You. Are. Beautiful. If you're male, you are absolutely strong and capable. You are able to conquer giants and be respected by many. If you are human, you are valuable. You are more loved than you or I could dare to dream. I cannot even fathom the depth of love that covers you. But I am certain in my heart of hearts that you are soaked in love, whether you know it or not. I know that you are made wonderfully whole, wholly beautiful, completely pure, and spotlessly perfect through Jesus. (Please keep reading). His heart for you is unending. Can you try to imagine that? An unending heart that loves you without fail? His heart will not fail you, His love will not leave you, He will not abandon you. Can you accept that, hands wide open? I hope so. I pray that you allow that Love to permeate you to your core and all the way back again.
This week, I spent many hours writing cards with the excuse that it is Valentines Day. I should not need an excuse to write cards full of Truth to those I love. I should do this regularly. I did not write to everyone I wanted; but I did go through an entire roll of stamps.
In those cards, I poured out my heart to each of you in a specific way, in hopes that you would experience Jesus {deeper} - I wrote to many of you, reminding you that you are valuable, you are loved, you are pure, and you are perfect. Because of Jesus. It is astonishing. Refreshing. Reviving. Transforming. Oh how deeply I want you to be transformed by this Love!
Taste this love, for it is sweeter than anything you've ever tasted. It is more fulfilling than anything you've ever seen or touched or dreamed of having. This Love is perfect and it is available.
My love for you, for people, deepens almost daily; and I know that my love can barely reflect a fragment of Jesus' love for you. I yearn for anyone I lay eyes on to know deep down how loved they are. I ache for people to know who they themselves are, allowing us all to love those around us. I dream of living in a city and world where we see the best in each other: we see Jesus and His pure, unending love, in all of humanity, individually and as a whole. Can we just pause and reset our brains, our hearts? Can we take off our blinders and see every human being just as they are?: another soul, journeying through a tough life, covered in the deepest Love ever known. I need this reset too, all too often. The reminder that people, strangers, family, they are all so much more than we ever see. They are more than their Facebook status, more than their jobs, more than their {broken} relationships: they are humans who are deeply loved, just like you and just like me. Can we be reminded of those truths and look at one another through these lenses?
1 Peter 2:24 "He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By HIS wounds you have been healed." To die is to gain. It hurts to die to ourselves, painful to let go of these lenses we prefer to look through. It is especially difficult when we feel entitled to be angry, entitled to treat others as though we are better. Sadly, we too often feel comfort when we feel entitled. How messed up can I be? But when I surrender, when we surrender all of our entitlements to death, we find ourselves able to see again. To experience joy, to see others with a love that makes no sense, and yet makes all the sense of life. When I lay down those entitlements, I see that I am no better than anyone else and it is only because Jesus has decided to forgive me every single day that I am able to give grace. To walk in love. And so can you.
Smile at everyone you come into contact with today, especially the strangers passing by. Love other people genuinely and take delight in honoring them. You can change someone's day so easily.
You are so deeply loved, and so are those around you.
