MAKE YOUR OWN VALENTINE MESSAGE

No... we do not do the worldly holidays at all, nor do we remember them.

However... there is a huge world of hurting folks out there, some being Christians who have been battered and bruised by life in general.

I do remember being in that category as a young Christian woman. I didn't have a beau nor anyone who thought I was special. The worldly holidays --- especially Valentine's Day --- was especially painful. Try as I might, I had a hard time NOT WANTING someone to give me just one heart-shaped box of chocolates during my life-time!

I remember reading in Ephesians this passage:

That CHRIST may dwell in your hearts by faith;

that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be abled too comprehend with all saints what is

the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

and to know the love of CHRIST,

which passesth knowledge,

that ye might be filled with all the fulness of GOD...

Eph. 3: 17,18, and 19.

As I was contemplating this Scripture, I pictured a little shoe-box on my lap. It was the portion of love that I could have... the length, and breadth, and depth and height of a shoe-box. I was okay with that. But, as I pondered this, an amazing thing happened.... the box started to stretch way out over the horizon!

Do you think I love my Savior ? YES, YES, a thousand times, YES ! HE+ was right there at my time of need. O, What a Savior is mine! (Like the old Gospel song.)

This worldly holiday coming up causes lots of sadness in hearts, as do most of the worldly holidays. If you know of a Christian brother or sister who is alone in heart, even in the midst of a family, it would be good to reach out and REDEEM THE TIME.

Use this time to REMIND that brother or sister of the LOVE of JESUS, of the steadfast love of the LORD, which never ceases. Have a "thinking of you" shower for the forgotten ones. Take a few minutes to remind that hurting one of the powerful, life-changing love that is shed abroad in our hearts by the HOLY SPIRIT.

For Christians, Valentine's Day can be very painful because the world makes so much of phony love, romantic love, Hollywood love. The world does not know and cannot receive the depth of the love of CHRIST JESUS. Let's do everything we can to keep the tormenting spirits at bay ... those same spirits which hound the lonely, the hurting, the forgotten ones, the ones struggling with private sorrows.

Here's a wonderful Collect from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. It would be nice on any Valentine or Thinking-of-You Card:

O most loving Father,

who willest us to give thanks for all things,

to dread nothing but the loss of thee,

and to cast all our care on thee who carest for us:

Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties,

and grant that no clouds of this mortal life

may hide from us the light of that love

which is immortal,

and which thou hast manifested unto us

in thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord;

who liveth and reigneth with thee,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,

now and for ever.
Amen.