A Prayer for Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Love is a many splendored thing … and a whole lot more.
Love is … you try to explain it.
I asked some youngsters about love and the answers I received were mighty revealing:
“No one is sure why it happens, but it has something to do with how you smell. People in love buy a lot of perfume and deodorant.”
“Love is a good feeling before bad stuff gets in the way.”
“Boys are kinda stupid, but they’re getting interesting.”
“My grandma can’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. My grandpa does it for her. His hands hurt cause he has arthritis. That’s love.”
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.”
“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.”
God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to us as a human being. This means that all the kinds of love we feel and think and will are affirmed.
We tend to think of Jesus as “churchy.” That puts him in a different kind of box. But, if you pinched him he hurt. If you tickled him he laughed.
Sometimes I worship with high functioning young men with autism who are incarcerated. They can’t believe that love stuff is for Jesus. Are we any different? Does it ever cross our minds that Jesus loved like we do?
How did Jesus love? What does it mean?
At the wedding at Cana, Jesus was embarrassed. He didn’t want Mary calling attention to him. Did he have a date that the gospel writers didn’t tell us about? He was human, after all.
He talked really open to the woman at the well.
He caught Zaccheus actually caring about him so much he climbed a tree to get a better look.
Jesus gave us an example of VINE and BRANCHES. Doesn’t that speak of mutuality in love where both feed one another?
Christians used to be described this way:
“They are Christians. See how they love one another.”
Maybe it’s time to start wearing our love on our sleeve.
Whenever I’m in a situation to ask people for prayer intentions, people tend to ask for things.
Do we ever say “I love you”? I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone say that out loud. It’s always “gimme!”
My granddaughter taught me the most beautiful prayer, and it’s short.
I’m suggesting we say it the last thing before we go to sleep:
“P. S. I love you.”
Pat Pickett, OblSB
Photo by Cottonbro Studio on Pexels.
