I see all of these youngsters at this time of year, running around buying teddy bears and boxes of chocolates for their “sweethearts” that they may or may not have next year. Or even next month, for that matter; and I think how the world falls in and out of love so easily and so often.
And I see a word escaping our vocabulary so many times: Commitment.
Yes, I also think of all the Valentine’s trinkets that I have purchased through the years: Cut acrylic disks that say “LOVE”, flowers, cards, candy, and lingerie.
And something that I’ve learned now after 27 years: Love is not confined to a pink box or encased with a red ribbon or immersed in a vase of water.
Love is neither a twitter of the heart nor a flavor of the month.
Love is not only a noun, but a verb; an action, the most difficult action that one will ever encounter.
Life is wrapped up in commitment…
Commitment is wrapped up in Love…
And Love is wrapped up in life…
It’s holding hands when you’re well and heads when you’re sick.
Looking at each other through rose colored glasses and then over reading glasses.
Dating at Taco Bell as well as Lonestar.
Raising Cain and later raising fathers and mothers.
Watching movies and watching our weight.
Ministry to congregations and to each other.
Growing up and getting down.
It’s playing games and playing with grandkids.
It’s knowing when to talk and when to listen.
It’s laughing and loving and crying and holding.
It’s using our hearts as a gateway to life…
And Jeanie Rhoades, I would do it all again…
I love you my one and only you.