Thoughts on Valentine’s Day.

Back in the day, when my daughters were all shorter than me, we had several events we celebrated with our homeschool community.  They were much work, and I was always ready to collapse in a heap when I finally got home.   The work wasn’t just part of the particular event.  With young children, I felt like I was walking through molasses.  I would try to gain my momentum as I would finally be moving toward my next goal with my herd, but my progress was hindered every few steps by another trip to the potty, a pinch on an unsuspecting arm, an unkind word (what did you say first?), or the disappearing child, who was just here a second ago.

I haven’t taken part in these festivities for quite sometime, as the majority of my children don’t require me to plan their social events any longer.  However, my youngest and I did celebrate this Valentine’s Day with a group of homeschooling families in our church.  Most of the kids were much younger, and I had time to contemplate the sweetness and wonder of this time of life.  Helping them make a box for their valentines, play games or get a cookie was different than it had been when my own kids were little.

I was also reminded that I receive abundant joy from entering into the joy of others.  Perhaps that is the way we are made?

I have been reading The Meaning of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller this week, and have been struck not only by its application for couples, but for relationships in general.  I know the Bible says we were made to serve God and others.  But Keller states:

That means paradoxically that if we try to put our own happiness ahead of obedience to God, we violate our own nature and become, ultimately, miserable.  Jesus restates the principle when he says, “Whoever wants to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25).  He is saying “If you seek happiness more than you seek me, you will have neither; if you seek to serve me more than serve happiness, you will have both.”

If I enter a marriage based on the happiness I think the other person will give me, I will end up disappointed.  If I enter marriage to serve my spouse, I may find lasting happiness.  This applies to other relationships, too.  Do I pursue the people in my life based on what they can give me?  Oh, my.  I hope not.  But I will be more purposeful in how I serve those around me, instead of how they can serve me.  How to do this?  The Holy Spirit.

Quoting from Keller again:

The Spirit’s work of making the gospel real to the heart weakens the self-centeredness in the soul.

The Holy Spirit also came up in Life Group this week, when we were studying Galatians 4:4-6:

…God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Christ redeemed us, and the Spirit continually reminds us of the truth of who we are in him.  And if we know this in our hearts, as well as in our minds, we can live as the beloved, empowered sons and daughters of the Most High.

I need the Holy Spirit to speak truth to me daily.  Through the Word, prayer and conversations.  Only then will I be able to serve as Jesus served,

…who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:6-7

 

Now, without further ado, some of the scenes that made my day special.