I have never been loved too much. Have you?
We all long for companionship, friendship, community. Someone to help us, to pay attention to our feelings, dreams, needs. But that comes from taking time to invest in relationships.
Asking someone to meet for coffee, staying up late with a teen who is anxious about life, holding a baby and rocking him until he finally falls securely asleep in strong arms, taking time for a cool drink and snacks with your husband so he can unload the stress and pressure he feels in his job.
Making love a priority means giving up some of yourself to receive love back. It’s what we all need. Every year, as I put up my Christmas decorations into lidded boxes marked "Christmas,” I pull out the plastic lidded boxes called "Valentine's Day," and put hearts out everywhere — on all the tables, in the bathroom, as books on the hearth, on my brass fireplace covering, on top of my china hutch, and in the basket with magazines in the bathroom.
Love is such a central theme in our Christian life, that it deserves to be celebrated for 6 weeks.
One of the things I have practiced in the past is to review one love verse a day in February — to remind us all just how foundational love is to marriage, ministry, family, friends, healing, giving, serving. These habits practiced for many years become a highway in our hearts, reminding us to always practice love.
As I taught my family these important verses, it was actually me who became the definition for what unconditional love is really like. It is as I see my children through the grid of wanting to show them just how generous God's love is, that I behave in a way that helps them believe the words of scripture about His love.