For the Not-So-Happy Valentine’s Day
Several years ago, I remembering sitting in the grocery store parking lot trying to muster the courage to walk inside. It was Valentine’s Day and I needed a gallon of milk. However, I knew what would be waiting for me in there–barrages of balloons, flowers and boxes of candy. When you are single and really don’t want to be, Valentine’s Day can be a long twenty-four hours. This Valentine’s Day I thought I’d write a letter to that lonely girl and remind her of a few important things.
From Psalm 139
Dear Lonely Girl,
You are not alone.
There is One who holds your heart in safe-keeping while you wait. He’s with you as you walk past all the Valentine’s décor and He knows the longings of your heart.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
As you brush your teeth and climb into bed, He is there beside you.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
And all those love notes you long to give and receive, He knows about those too.
Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.
As you turn your key in the lock of your tiny apartment, He’s waiting there for you…His loving hand is on your shoulder as you fix dinner for one…or for you and those precious kids of yours.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
I know it hard to believe, but its true!
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
You are not alone.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Tonight, when you switch off the lamp on your bedside table, have nothing to fear.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
And finally, He thinks you are beautiful and one of a kind. I guess He would know all about that…
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
He thinks of you constantly and its always about really good stuff!
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—
When you get up to face another day, guess who’s there?
–when I awake, I am still with you.
So my dear one, on this day when roses, love songs and candlelight dinners threaten to undo you, don’t get so distracted by all the fanfare that you forget…you are not alone. Every sunset, every flower, every beautiful thing was created to remind you how special you are to Him.
Happy Valentine’s Day from the One who’s always walked beside you and has always held your heart.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)
*special thanks to Megan Turner Photography!
In the Most Unlikely Places
He stopped, looking out the bedroom window. “Hey, look at that!” he said, quite surprised at the little patch of yellow that had caught his eye. My husband grew up in Michigan so he is not accustomed to such a sight in early February.
One lone little daffodil stood resolutely in the company of dead leaves and dry twigs. I ran to get my glasses because this is what I always do when I want to see something that is further than six inches from my face. I joined him at the window for a brief moment. We smiled…what an unlikely place for a flower to bloom. Yet I guess this is the very thing that caused us to stop and appreciate its beauty.
I got to thinking that life is a lot like this. Sometimes circumstances seem to do their best to discourage us from displaying the glory of the One whose image we bear. After all, we don’t always get to choose where we’re planted.
Sometimes we get to enjoy the company of others…
Sometimes we have to go it alone…
But we always get to choose whether or not we’re gonna bloom.
What if we all – like that little flower – chose to fulfill the purposes for which we were created? His glory often shines brightest in the most likely places.
So go ahead…bloom!
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy…they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God” Isaiah 35:1-2
When the Well is Too Deep
Have you watched someone get so entrenched in a mess that it seems there is no way out? Like getting caught in quicksand, the struggle to survive only drives the person further into the pit. It’s heart wrenching thing to witness. I read of such a woman this morning.
I don’t know her background. I’m not sure how she wound up in place I found her. I mean, what kind of pain drives a woman to roam from bed to bed, willing to give herself to anyone who might throw a few scraps of tenderness her way now and then? Whatever the situation, she had found her place – and it wasn’t with “the good crowd”. She had long since burned her bridges there. If she could just figure out how to not need anyone, life would be a whole lot easier. But her parched throat drives her out of the shadows and into the noon-day sun.
She walks over to the well and finds a man sitting there.
“Great, here we go”, she must have thought. “I’m just gonna mind my own business, get my water and get outa here”.
Just as she begins to lower her bucket, the guy stops her.
“Hey, would you mind getting me a drink too?”
She knows a pick-up line when she hears one, so she throws off his request.
The man gives her quite a surprising response.
Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
She rolls her eyes. “Living water? Pshhhh. You don’t even have anything to carry it in”, she says. “And not only that, but this well is very deep.”
You know the rest of the story, its one that has been told many times John 4. Jesus succeeds in changing her mind :-) However, the woman’s initial reply struck me in a new way this morning. I noted that when Jesus offers to quench her spiritual thirst, she replies with despair and cynicism. Not even God can help me now…this well is just too deep.
Ever been there? I know I have.
There are circumstances in this life that can make us so jaded we begin to take pleasure in bursting the bubble of anyone who dares to speak of hope in Christ.
Pshhhh. All this God-talk is for people who don’t live in the real world.
Yet the “real world” is exactly whom Jesus came to save.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).
The gift of salvation through Jesus ensures that no matter how far we have fallen, no well is ever too deep. His love and grace reaches down to every last one of us. All we have to do it take hold of it.
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:13-14)
Christmas Comes…Anyway
Over the last two days businesses have closed and folks have gathered. We pause to find our place with the shepherds, angels and wise men as they worship the Baby in the manger. Some of us come with happy hearts and some of us come with broken ones. Some of us come with quiet hope and some of us come with courageous resolve. Thing is…each of us – no matter our station or situation – is welcome to come. I’m so grateful that life doesn’t need to be perfect to worship the Christ child.
Being out and about, I’ve passed complete strangers — spilling all kinds of smiles – because of the joy that this day brings. “Merry Christmas!” they say. Merry Christmas, indeed. No other holiday seems to produce such unifying and delightful effect. Yet I also know there are those who will be much relieved when this day is finally over. For the grieving, the hurting, and the lonely, Christmas has a way of magnifying the pain.
Whatever your circumstance, the “tidings of comfort and joy” remain unchanged:
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)
God with us.
With us in joy, with us in pain. With us when the house is full, with us when it’s much too quiet. With us when we walk in faith, with us when we walk in fear. With us when time flies, with us in the age long minutes.
Because of Jesus, God is with us (John 14:9). Nothing is able to separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39), His forgiveness (1 John 1:9), His promise to provide a forever home in heaven (John 14:3). So whether you close this day with celebration or with relief, take heart in the promise that Christmas has come…anyway.
Favorite Christmas Stories: My Angel Tree
Memories of December 2002 are sketchy, but there are a few things I remember well. As others tacked up Christmas lights, I tacked up a “For Sale” sign in the front yard. That was the year my marriage had abruptly ended and Dad had gone on to join Mom in heaven. Life as I’d known it was forever changed. Times were tough in about every way imaginable, yet I still had two precious and eager children who longed for the comfort and joy of Christmas. So with half-hearted attempt I put up a few decorations and did what I could to muster up some semblance of Christmas cheer.
Earlier that spring, in the days after the news of our family tragedy spread, friends had rallied around to offer encouragement and support. But as any grieving person will tell you, at some point folks do need to return to their normal lives and the broken-hearted are left to grieve alone. I wish I could testify to having had unshakable faith that year, but the truth is I just wanted to go back to bed. The sweet baby in a manger seemed a million miles away.
Just wake me up when it’s over, I thought.
Late one afternoon as we pulled in the driveway, the girls noticed a bundled package sitting near the edge of the yard. They ran over to investigate. The anonymous card attached said, “Merry Christmas!” and they excitedly unwrapped a box containing a tiny tree with colored lights. They were thrilled. I was confused (Who? What? Why?) Nevertheless, we brought the tree in the house and plugged it in.
Next afternoon two packages sat waiting for us as we pulled into the driveway. Attached was another anonymous Christmas card, a box of turtle candies, and a box of Dove soap. The girls hopped around with joy. More presents!! Hmmm….a tree…turtles…doves. It was all coming together now. My eyes brimmed with tears as I realized what was happening.
Sure enough, day after day, three, four, five, six gifts were left. Then seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven and twelve. An abundance of gifts left on our doorstep to theme of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I remember receiving one package containing three angel ornaments named Hope, Joy and Love. I smiled… my heart freshly filled with all three. With a simple act of kindness, some caring soul was bringing baby Jesus back into view for me. Thank you, thank you…whoever you are, thank you.
Almost ten years later, the turtle candy, soap and other gifts are long gone. However, the little tree and angels remain. They are a testimony of God’s faithfulness to me and my girls during some very dark days. You couldn’t buy me any fancier decorations. Hope, Joy and Love need no dressing up.
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine…For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlast-lasting Father, Prince of Peace.” –from Isaiah 9
