Love – A Writer's Daughter

An Ice Skating Love Story

He grew up in a northern US city with plenty of naturally frozen skating spots all winter, and her childhood in Canada was replete with abounding enthusiasm and opportunities for ice skating over many winter months each year. With mutual friends from church, he asked her out on their first date to go ice skating. Wasting no time for feelings to melt, he gave her a Valentines Day card shortly following the skating date. Their romance quickly swirled into an engagement on her June birthday, and they married at the end of that summer. Their honeymoon included time in Lake Placid where they skated together at the indoor Olympic rink.

That first February ice skating date happened more than six decades ago. My parents continued to enjoy skating together over many of those years. They shared their love of ice skating with us kids. Virginia winters were milder than their hometowns, but we skated on rinks, and occasionally on the Washington Monument reflecting pool and the nearby C & O canal in years when they froze over. I remember buying my own full-size, good quality leather skates during a visit to family in Canada.

My parents also shared with us what it means to be married: “one man, one woman, one lifetime,” as Pastor Jeff at my church succinctly put it. Like pairs skating, marriage is magical, elegant, sensual, rhythmic, and risky – a dynamic partnership. There will also be bumps and bruises along the way. Marriage requires endurance and stamina, like the long program in skating competition. Couples can’t skate by on infatuation alone.

Marriage is God’s good and natural design for us, His creation (Genesis 2 v 24). Love is laced throughout the Scriptures. You’ll find romantic love stories and Solomon’s PG-13 passionate song in the Old Testament. Themes and analogies of weddings, the bride, and marital joy, commitment, and purity weave through the New Testament. Ultimately, we find God’s sacrificial love for us in the familiar verse John 3:16

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. NLT

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your beautiful love story. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for loving us enough to give us your Son, Jesus.

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Valentines Words

Doing crafts and activities with children makes me happy. I made these Valentine projects with some kids last week. I wanted to post them for Valentine’s Day and then decided to expand the post with Scriptures on the topic of LOVE.

The Bible speaks often of love, especially of the great love God has for us. Psalm 62 culminates by expressing it quite clearly: “One thing God has spoken, … that you, oh God, are loving.” Old Testament passages frequently say of God that He is “abounding in love” as I read for myself this morning in Nehemiah 9:17 and Psalm 86:5.

A familiar passage in the New Testament defines perfect love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians13:4-8, 13).

By loving us and defining love, God also demonstrated selfless love for us and asks us to follow His example; “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). And Jesus told us, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27) and “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

These simple but rich words from the Author of Love provide much for us to ponder on this Valentine’s Day.

New Construction

Living in a brand-new house accentuates even the smallest of flaws. Since everything is newly constructed and freshly painted, the imperfections, nicks and dirt really stand out. Mostly I notice and cringe at damage such as scratches on the wall or dings on moulding. Some of it happened even as the movers brought in our stuff and I won’t rant about those gashes, but most of the marks are from day-to-day wear that will occur in any home. We are the first residents, and our living here spoils the perfection and brings in dust and SAND!

These new blemishes remind me of a sermon I heard our former Pastor preach. Based on a verse* from the book Song of Solomon, he talked about the danger of “the little foxes” in our lives, those ‘little’ sins we consider harmless. But the verse goes on to say that the foxes spoil the vine and need to be caught before they harm the grapes. Fox cubs may seem innocuous in a garden, but they are destructive enough to ruin a vineyard and probably a year’s livelihood.

Could the “little foxes” be the seemingly minor sins like partial disclosure, grumbling, resentment or discontent, the wayward eye? Those aren’t The Big Ten anyway! But the Bible tells us that all commandments matter and a “spoiled vine” turns into a dead plant or at least one without fruit, rather useless. Little sins, like little stains, taint and must be cleaned up quickly.

As I researched for this blog post, I came across an interesting application from a good Bible resource called GotQuestions.org: “Take preventative measures to protect this love from anything that could harm it.” “Little foxes that spoil the vine” is out of one of the Bible’s love stories, Song of Solomon. The “little foxes” directive may refer to relationships or marriage. The little things like harsh words, going to bed angry, unforgiveness and selfishness badly mar relationships quite quickly, like the gash from a table leg on a spotless hallway wall! I was surprised to realize this context and it was a reminder I needed to hear.

I will have to live with a house that gets dirty and damaged but spiritually we lean on Jesus’ power to rid us of thoughts and actions that spoil our lives. *Song of Solomon 2:15

I like this cute quip in my home and I think the spiritual equivalent is “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”.

Fully Known and Loved

What do the lyrics “fully known and loved” imply? God relates to us from a unique perspective. He created us and knew us individually even as we developed before birth (Psalm 139:13). God hears our words before we say them (Psalm 139:4). He knows the motives in our hearts, pure and impure (1 Chronicles 28:9, Matthew 9:4). We cannot escape Him, anywhere (Psalm 139:7-10, Romans 8:38-39)! Yet with all this insight into our personhood, which is often very unattractive, God loves us completely and unconditionally.

Last month as I prepared to serve an evening meal, my husband reached for his phone to make a call. I suggested that he wait until after dinner since I was nearly ready to put the food out. He went ahead with the call saying, “it won’t take long.” Twenty minutes later the call finally ended. The meal had gone cold as my irritation heated up. A perfectly nice dinner now needed rewarming and I was frustrated over wasted time.

Although my demeanor surely indicated my displeasure in the situation, I did not call him out on this inconvenience. The day had been a snow day off work for us. We had taken a beautiful walk around a nearby lake and enjoyed coffee together afterward. Additionally, my husband had helped a neighbor with a broken snowblower. I had heard that the neighbor needed a part or service recommendation and I knew my husband’s knack for fixing stuff. I sent him over and he soon got the machine running again to the great delight and relief of our neighbor! So, in my heart, I pardoned the delayed dinner for the previous goodnesses earlier in the day.

Human grace provides a dim glimpse of the lavish grace God grants us though we are completely undeserving of it. Tauren Wells calls it “ridiculous grace.” “Fully known and loved” encapsulates the extreme nature of God’s affection for us as the song “Known” conveys beautifully; I hope you will listen and enjoy. Today is a great day to accept God’s love and grace for you.