My most memorable Valentine’s Day was a very long time ago. I think I was in the third grade. I was in love with Pamela Pop. She was the cute girl who captured my romantic attention. Pamela had red hair that she wore in two tight braids that flung around like ropes on the playground. On Valentine Day eve, I clearly remember hiding on my top bunk with the Valentine card that had her name on the envelope. Mom had helped me prepare a card for the students in my class, but this one needed special attention. This was my chance to declare my love for her, and I did. I drew hearts all over the card and put our initials with a plus sign between the artwork.
Our custom was to go around the room and deliver our cards to each classmate’s “mailbox” sitting on the corner of their desk. I was sick, but I dropped it in. The party was the last activity of the school day. I do not know how I expected Pamula to respond, but she did not. Not at all! Not even a nod of the head or squint of an eye. Nothing.
Valentine’s Day is today. Every year’s celebration of love contains a rehearsing of that first throbbing of the heart. My family moved to another state not long after that year. Interestingly, I met her little brother when I was stationed in Alaska years later.
I have just been wondering how many times I have written in a card to Jan, “I don’t have the words to tell you….” Have you ever used similar words? All I’ve got to say is, “Shame on us!” There are plenty of words; we just haven’t taken the time to search through our vocabulary to find them. And if we really don’t have the words, shame on us again for not taking the time between Valentines Day’s to increase our vocabulary.
It seems to me that what I actually said was, “I love you but not enough to do the work of finding the words and stringing them together for you.”
So, the question is actually, “Do I love Jan, or am I deeply infatuated with her?” It seems logical that I will pay the price love demands if I love. But, on the other hand, I am probably infatuating, not loving if I am unwilling.
The articulating of how I feel moves emotions from the ghostly nebula of my feelings into the concrete reality of commitments. Feelings change. The feelings of love ebb and flow. Words make emotions and ideas real. Words are powerful. Words turn emotions into commitments, and commitments change the world.
The whole concept of God has at its core the challenge of putting the unexplainable, the unknowable, into transferable words. It’s an impossibility. But we have a sixty-six-book collection of humans doing just that: the Bible. Sure, God-inspired and directed the humans writing it. It is a unique, Holy book. But I believe God will always guide the writer’s hand who wishes to convey His kind of love to another human.
As long as we draw breath and have the ability to communicate linguistically, we must be about finding ways to convey our love and affirmation to the folks God allows to pass through our life cycle. This is especially true of our family, spouses, and children first.
One more point. A critical point! Do you love Jesus, or do you have a high-functioning infatuation with him? I fear many of us have confused the two. Infatuation notices how much the other person “moves” us. Love longs to see how much it can serve its object. Infatuation is all about feeling. Love is all about adjusting to being included in the life of who or what is loved. Infatuation will cause you to behave differently. Love will cause you to be different.
Here is an excellent place to start your own pondering on the difference between love and infatuation;
“The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him. (John 14:21, CSB)
Today’s question to consider is, “Do I love Jesus, or am I only infatuated with Him?”
Photo – This October picture is of a stream pool that is on a hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Baldwin Heirlooms 