Who's Been Eating my Reese's Pieces?
Love, exciting and new....come aboard! We're expecting you! The Love Boat...
Yay, it's Valentine's Day. Seriously, yay. Yes, I'm single (for the moment, guys!) and will therefore be having the "Girls' Night" celebration of Valentine's Day, post-work this evening. Movies and sushi and gabbing, oh my! But it doesn't follow that I'm bitter or unhappy about that. Neither does it mean that this "holiday of love" disgusts me or that I see it as a bogus holiday created by the greeting card, candy, and flower industries as a way to get us poor love-struck saps to spend more money. I love Valentine's day. I love love! There's a whole herd of people out there that God has brought into my life for me to love and who love me back and I'm just as much inclined to celebrate that as I would be had I a date with Hugh Jackman this evening! I have a family who's got my back no matter what I manage to get myself into. Honestly, they love me in the closest way I can imagine to how God loves me...without any catches or conditions or "pissy mood days". Yes, they love me even with all my pissy moods. I have friends who go out of their way to let me know they're thinking about me or just want to spend an afternoon at the mall with me, catching up and eating full-fat muffins at Caribou Coffee. I have friends who've let me log countless hours on their psychotherapy couches, listening and commiserating and sharing cookies. I have friends who leave me myspace and facebook notes of encouragement and silliness that I just can't get enough of. Emails of pointless hilarity and grounded advice that make my day. I love you all so much!
And let me not forget the Friend and Father whose love has proven even more strong and steadfast than the rest. I haven't always looked for it, but it's always been there regardless, more steady and complete than any form of love I've experienced from a human standpoint. Jesus loves me, this I know. And I know it because He's shown me. With ever-stronger patience, He's shown me.
I have found myself, over the last couple of months, engrossed in conversations with several different girlfriends about relationships and "guys" in general. In a couple of the instances we've discussed, my friend was confused and claimed that the guy was sending "mixed signals" or "just seemed too busy for a relationship right now". Well, if there's one thing I've learned, and I'm not bashful about sharing this, it's that when a guy is interested, he'll leave no doubt in your mind that he's interested. It's just that simple. If he doesn't, he's not worth the worry. How will he indicate his interest? He'll SHOW it. Talk only gets you so far. I've learned a lot of things in the last four months and one thing God has shown me is that when somebody loves you, they'll show you. God shows me His love every day. He sends me signs and blessings and scriptures and sometimes just a feeling. He connects with me in some way every single day. I know He loves me. This knowledge has enabled me to look at relationships and life in general with new eyes in a way that i'd somehow overlooked before. It's enabled me to see that His love is the only love that will fulfill me in every single way that my heart needs and wants. As long as I know this, all other love from anyone else in this life is icing on an already beautiful cake! What a pressure that's removed from me and what a pressure that can remove from all of us who are single and searching or even those of us who are in relationships. The pressure to "find someone fast" is gone! The pressure to shape those we love into forms that better fulfill us and the kind of love we think we need is gone! The pressure our loved ones come under to "fill our holes" is gone! The holes are already filled! We already have all the love we'll ever need in this life and the next. What we've got to do is to wrap our heads around the knowledge that God loves us. Really loves us. Passionately loves us. The kind of love our hearts long for is already being offered...all we've got to do is accept and enjoy it.
The thing is, Valentine's Day is just a day, people. Love is love and I hope that if I do nothing else in this life, that I show people the love of God through my love of them EVERY DAY...just like my family and friends have done for me. That's what this life is all about. All we need is love...His.
Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!
Yay, it's Valentine's Day. Seriously, yay. Yes, I'm single (for the moment, guys!) and will therefore be having the "Girls' Night" celebration of Valentine's Day, post-work this evening. Movies and sushi and gabbing, oh my! But it doesn't follow that I'm bitter or unhappy about that. Neither does it mean that this "holiday of love" disgusts me or that I see it as a bogus holiday created by the greeting card, candy, and flower industries as a way to get us poor love-struck saps to spend more money. I love Valentine's day. I love love! There's a whole herd of people out there that God has brought into my life for me to love and who love me back and I'm just as much inclined to celebrate that as I would be had I a date with Hugh Jackman this evening! I have a family who's got my back no matter what I manage to get myself into. Honestly, they love me in the closest way I can imagine to how God loves me...without any catches or conditions or "pissy mood days". Yes, they love me even with all my pissy moods. I have friends who go out of their way to let me know they're thinking about me or just want to spend an afternoon at the mall with me, catching up and eating full-fat muffins at Caribou Coffee. I have friends who've let me log countless hours on their psychotherapy couches, listening and commiserating and sharing cookies. I have friends who leave me myspace and facebook notes of encouragement and silliness that I just can't get enough of. Emails of pointless hilarity and grounded advice that make my day. I love you all so much!
And let me not forget the Friend and Father whose love has proven even more strong and steadfast than the rest. I haven't always looked for it, but it's always been there regardless, more steady and complete than any form of love I've experienced from a human standpoint. Jesus loves me, this I know. And I know it because He's shown me. With ever-stronger patience, He's shown me.
I have found myself, over the last couple of months, engrossed in conversations with several different girlfriends about relationships and "guys" in general. In a couple of the instances we've discussed, my friend was confused and claimed that the guy was sending "mixed signals" or "just seemed too busy for a relationship right now". Well, if there's one thing I've learned, and I'm not bashful about sharing this, it's that when a guy is interested, he'll leave no doubt in your mind that he's interested. It's just that simple. If he doesn't, he's not worth the worry. How will he indicate his interest? He'll SHOW it. Talk only gets you so far. I've learned a lot of things in the last four months and one thing God has shown me is that when somebody loves you, they'll show you. God shows me His love every day. He sends me signs and blessings and scriptures and sometimes just a feeling. He connects with me in some way every single day. I know He loves me. This knowledge has enabled me to look at relationships and life in general with new eyes in a way that i'd somehow overlooked before. It's enabled me to see that His love is the only love that will fulfill me in every single way that my heart needs and wants. As long as I know this, all other love from anyone else in this life is icing on an already beautiful cake! What a pressure that's removed from me and what a pressure that can remove from all of us who are single and searching or even those of us who are in relationships. The pressure to "find someone fast" is gone! The pressure to shape those we love into forms that better fulfill us and the kind of love we think we need is gone! The pressure our loved ones come under to "fill our holes" is gone! The holes are already filled! We already have all the love we'll ever need in this life and the next. What we've got to do is to wrap our heads around the knowledge that God loves us. Really loves us. Passionately loves us. The kind of love our hearts long for is already being offered...all we've got to do is accept and enjoy it.
The thing is, Valentine's Day is just a day, people. Love is love and I hope that if I do nothing else in this life, that I show people the love of God through my love of them EVERY DAY...just like my family and friends have done for me. That's what this life is all about. All we need is love...His.
Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!
posted by Melissa @ 2:42 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
You may fool some people with your "noble" take on love, but not me. I've done the RESEARCH, I've got the FACTS! So, you celebrate the love of your friends and God, eh? Easy yo say when you have a guy on the side, isn't it??
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