Valentines day is almost here. All week I’ve heard the commercials for chocolates and flowers. In fact, one day this week I found myself glued to the floor in front of a rack of spectacular valentine cards at my local post office/gas station/subway store. Valentines day is a unique “holiday” and whatever you may think about it, it reminds me of one thing. People want to be loved. And people want to be TOLD that they are loved.
This year valentine’s day is on a Sunday. For church-going-people, we may-or-may-not like that. I have to admit that I am HAPPY it is on a Sunday this year. It will give me the opportunity to remind a lot of people on valentines day that they are LOVED. Really, truly, completely loved. Thinking about the love of God this morning has reminded me of an old song – one of my favorites. It’s called “The Love of God” and it was written in 1917. Here are a couple of verses of it. May it be a valentine to us all today:
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Refrain
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
