God's Valentine

Valentine’s Day, a day of love and for showing love. There is no love greater than God’s love for us. No Valentine can compete with His love. God’s love for us sent His Son to the cross for me and for you. An example of this love is found in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Did you catch that….while we were yet sinners! Jesus didn’t say, “after you clean yourselves up, I’ll go to the cross.” No, in our sin, He accepted the Father’s will and hung on that cross for all of mankind.

What, you might ask, does this thought have to do with “The Pond”? I see love there, God’s love is reflected in the pond in that He provided this place and the inspiration for this book. He loves you enough to use me and this pond as vessels to get His message to each one who reads “The Pond.” I look around the pond and see the beauty in all seasons. Blooming blueberry bushes in the spring and summer, the fall brings brilliant colored leaves to the hardwood trees that surround the pond’s banks. In winter, those leaves have fallen, leaving trees bare and as stark statues against the sky; then it snows; there is such quiet around the pond and woods as the snow settles to the ground. Against the whiteness of snow, the evergreens, pine and cedar, peek out and assure me that life goes on.

In the Old Testament, Jeremiah writes in 31:13, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Actually, this is in reference to God’s love of His people Israel but I think we can just as easily apply the same verse to ourselves individually. He loved us from the foundations of the world (Matt 25:34) and we have been drawn by Him. II Timothy 1:9, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

Thinking also of the circle of life as I’ve mentioned above, we have that hope that once life on earth is done, we, who are saved by grace through faith, continue to live eternally in Heaven. Life, for the Christian indeed, goes on! There are many references to this truth, but I like John 5:24, “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” That’s pretty straightforward. Hallelujah!

Spend a few quiet moments thanking God for His unspeakable gift, the greatest Valentine of all!

(From The Pond 2016)