True Love

               It’s February!!  The month of love and romance, the time of year that flower shops and card and candy manufactures look forward to and dread all at the same time.  However, at some point in my life it turned from being about romantic love and became all about the kids.  Which isn’t bad, I love showering my kids in love!  But I don’t want Mike to get lost in the shuffle because he has been my Valentine for 18 years now, and will be for years to come. I want to be sure and let him know how much I love and appreciate him.  I am so excited because this month we will actually be in Portland for Valentine’s Day and I am really looking forward to a romantic get-away with my Sweetheart!

                This post, however, is not all about how to make your Valentine’s Day more meaningful for your Sweetheart.  I do think that celebrating our love for our spouse is important, but something else has been on my heart the last couple of days.  Our church has a wonderful Children’s Program called “Kings Kids” which I am involved in.  I have been blessed in so many ways by being part of this ministry, both by the kids and by what I am learning alongside them about being a child of the King.  Each month I submit something for the Church’s Newsletter/Website that shares what we are learning with the rest of the church.  This month our theme is “The Greatest is the Least” and comes from John 13:1-35 when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. When I first started preparing for this month’s theme I really didn’t consider it to tie in with Valentine’s Day, but the more I dug into scripture and thought about it the more I realized that it fits perfectly with this holiday that celebrates love.  So I’ve shared in part what I wrote for the February Newsletter for Kings Kids:

                What does love look like in Kings Kids?  It’s putting others above ourselves, ministering to one another in joy, love and humility.  It means sharing, taking turns, being kind, helping one another and having compassion.   As Jesus was getting closer and closer to the crucifixion, he was burdened with the responsibility of sharing with his disciples what it means to love.  At the last supper he took the opportunity to show them true love in action by washing their feet, a task meant for a servant not a king. 

                Jesus wants all of us as his followers to understand that true love means considering others greater and ourselves less, to take up the bowl of water and towel and wash one another’s feet in love and humility.  I think that this is easier in theory than in action because it doesn’t come natural and it’s not what the World teaches us; but it’s what Jesus calls us to do so how can we do anything less?  So while this month will mean giving and receiving cards, flowers and candy to some, may it mean something different to those of us who belong to Christ.  This Valentine’s Day (and everyday) let’s show love by giving of ourselves in Jesus’ name.

This was so good for me, because as I was writing it and tying it in to this holiday associated with love, I came to and important realization. The best way that I can show love to my husband and my children, and really anyone who God places in my life,  is by loving them with this selfless, sacrficial type of love that comes from a servant's heart.  This is so contradictory to what the World teaches us, the examples that society gives us of love is not selfless or sacrificial, and it certainly does not require taking the role of the servant! 

 I also realize that it takes a lot of courage to love this way, it's risky to put ourselves in the postion of the servant and love in a way that is opposite of what the world says. But I am telling you that in my own experience, when I love in this way, where I am willing to  become less in order for others to become greater, Christ's love in me is increased!  And this is worth far more to me than flowers and candy!