The Season of Love is Upon Us

We are stepping into the season of love . . . or at least Hallmark tells us so. My wife is pretty convinced that they are right, too. So, I surrendered to this commercial holiday for my own good. (Insert big, cheesy grin here).

While I’m not such a big believer in Valentine’s Day, I do believe that love is the greatest force and gift the universe has ever known. I mean, how else could we have such songs as Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender,” the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” or Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”? Personally, I am more of a Kenny & Dolly fan when I consider “Islands in the Stream.” Can you not hear my dulcet tones backing them up?

This is not a lesson on love songs, but I wanted you to see how emotional we are about love. We love the idea of love. We love the idea of love so much we easily confuse what love is. Too many times, we remain toddlers when it comes to understanding and practicing love. We tend to not do the adult thing and the hard thing - communicate, communicate, communicate. Healthy adults communicate - continuously seeking clarity - not assuming, or allowing feelings, to determine the truth. The feeling of love is deceptive because feelings are always changing. True love is based upon truth.

There is this wonderful description of love that many of you have heard at weddings. It goes like this, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

What a beautiful description of love. I think about this description often when I consider my relationship with my bride. I ask myself, “Does Becky describe my love for her in any way like that?” I think about this description when I consider my relationship with my kids. “Have my kids experienced this kind of love from me, their dad?”

It is a great exercise, but also humbling. Can I be vulnerable for a moment? I’m not always patient and kind. I am sometimes jealous or boastful, because I can be selfish.

I have demanded the dinner I want before. I’ve come home irritable because people can sometimes be annoying - even church people. I have given up on people, because of how they’ve treated me, my family, or themselves. I am not always hopeful, because I can see a person’s pattern for self destruction and it no longer seems reasonable to have hope they’ll change.

But, I want to love like this. I want to because I’ve experienced it myself. God has been patient and kind with me. He’s put up with my selfishness. He has allowed me to get my way, even when He knew it wasn’t best for me. He is jealous for my affections, because He knows anything but Him is a cheap trinket.

This type of love is much more than a love song . . . but, just for fun, sing with me . . . “Islands in the stream, that is what we are, no one between, how can we be wrong? Sail away with me, to another world, and we rely on each other, uh-huh, from one lover to another, uh-huh . . .”

Sing the songs. Buy the cards and candy and gifts. But don’t let those cheap trinkets be all the love that we offer each other.