It’s Valentine’s Day. Matt and I have exchanged our cards and are very much looking forward to a yummy dinner tomorrow night at Bookbinders courtesy of a gift card Matt’s little brother gave us for Christmas. Meanwhile, tonight we’ll be dining on Thai Basil Chicken– one of Matt’s favs– and watching the best show known to man (which would be LOST, duh). All in all, it’s shaping up to be a pretty darn good Valentines Day.

Oh yeah, and adding to the goodness of the day is some big news we have around here. Between the big news and my big mouth, it’s unfortunate that I am not at liberty to share via this blog. So you’ll just have to wait in anticipation…or give me a call… and perhaps I can share the dirt. (No, I am not pregnant again. Though that would be pretty funny.)

On a more serious note, I am always drawn to 1 Corinthians 13 on Valentines Day, and I really like how The Message translates this passage. I remember back to one summer at Camp Willow Run where the speaker had us replace the word “love” with our names in these verses. Do it, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be reminded how we fall so short of the true love we’re called to exhibit. Thankfully, we have an awesome God who proves the most perfect love of all to us day in and day out…

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Happy Valentines Day!!