Today Valentine’s Day. God is love.  You are loved today and always. Be loving to others.

A prayer:

A tear needs a question

-Not a tissue to dry it

A broken heart needs a listening ear

-Not a lashing tongue

A person with scars needs friendship in the present

-Not told of failures in the past

A moment of fear needs a hand in the dark

-Not a switch for the light

A person in agony needs compassion and validation

-Not an answer

A soul needs to connect

-Not wander in the fog

An insecure mind needs to know

-Not question or wonder

A living being needs continual love

-Not halfway, some of the time, or when it feels good

Love somebody

-With all you hear, all you say, all you remember, all you forget, all you touch, all you feel, all of your heart, all the way, with always a yes, and never a no.

1 Peter4:8-11 “Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Even if we have very little of material items to give someone, we can give the greatest gift of all, which is love. Love has to show up. Love is certainly just being with someone. It is also giving to, doing for, speaking up, and reaching out. Just showing up is sometimes exactly what someone needs, but who you are and what you do when you show up also matters. Love is a choice. Love is a verb. Love has to love daily and deeply. It isn’t a hobby, a habit, or only there for when you need it. Love is a ministry. When you take someone’s heart in your hands, you are accepting the greatest responsibility on this planet. Love looks at another as a gift. A treasure. Figure out how to care for this treasure you have been given. Do you find out how to take care of the things on earth you treasure? If someone gave you a football, signed by your favorite team, during a championship game, would you play with it out in the mud and leave it outside to ruin? If someone gave you a diamond ring that belonged to a queen, would you leave it by the sink, just to fall down the drain? No. You choose to take care of things you value as rare and precious treasures. The heart of this person that you hold in your hand is a greater treasure than all earthly things.

kim crawford

12.19.13; 2.13.18