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Where is the Love?

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"To love another person is to see the face of God."
~ Victor Hugo, Les Miserables 

💗 In a week where love 💗 love 💘 love 💖 is all anyone is thinking and talking about, how come there is so much angst and sorrow surrounding us?  Why is there loneliness when we are able to be so connected?  Why do people consider themselves unlovable, or afraid to be vulnerable?  While I don't consider the Beatles any kind of authority on love, it is true that 'all we need is love' - but, what kind of love do we really need?


💗 The butterfly-inducing flutter of being romanced and made to feel special?  The
satisfaction of having a special someone so we're not lonely?  The thrill of receiving cards & flowers to affirm we are thought about?  Yes, yes and yes - all those are so lovely and delightful.  


💗Who doesn't want someone who has never ending, unfailing love for us, rejoicing over our very being, protecting us, lavishing over us, accepting of us, forgiving, always compassionate, doesn't get angry, always faithful, where nothing ever comes between our love?  I know!  That describes me too!  I don't know why that person is so hard to find! 

Love is so easy, unless, of course, we've been let down by love.  It doesn't have to be romantic love; it can be friends or family members who we have been unloved by.  Maybe it goes all the way back to grade school when you counted all your valentines put in your box by your classmates?  Isn't it easy to open the door to mistrust, cynicism and pessimism.  

The love the world offers can be so finite, so full of expectations and assumptions that it is just waiting to let us down.  The butterflies go to sleep sometimes, the walls of life bear down on us, we feel our support system of commitment waiver, and suffering and grief can overcome us. 

So where is the love we so long for? The only kind of love that is permanent, without end, unfailing and unwavering is God's love for us.  Without it, we can't thrive, we can't love others, and we can't let ourselves be loved.  

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God's love is eternal, will not fail and provides us refuge!
"I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love.  With unfailing 
love I have drawn you to Myself."  Jer 31:3

"How priceless is Your unfailing love, O God!  People take refuge 
in the shadow of Your wings."  Ps 36:7

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He rejoices over us!
"He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; 
He will exult over you with loud singing." Zeph 3:17
 
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He lavishes His love on us!
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be 
called children of God!  And that is what we are!"  1 Jn 3:1

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He is compassionate, slow to anger and faithful!
"But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, 
abounding in love and faithfulness.  Ps 86:15

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It is unshakable!
"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing 
love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,' 
says the Lord, who has compassion on you." Is 54:10

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It is enduring!
"Give thanks to the God of heaven.  His love endures forever." Ps 136:26

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We don't have to do anything to earn it!
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not 
from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast." 
Eph 2:8-9

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We can't be separated from it!
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom 8:38-39

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So, as the incredibly smooth voice of Dean Martin once crooned, we're not "nobody til somebody loves you." The love of this world and by this world will always let us down at one time or another,  but God will ALWAYS 💗 us, and His love will ALWAYS want what's best for us.  

💗 That's where The Love is.  

✙ Dear Heavenly Father, You have made Your love so apparent to us, at every part of our lives.  In the low times You literally carry us, in the high times You rejoice with us, and all the times in between Your faithfulness embraces us and always calls us back to You.  Help us to reflect that love to others in our daily lives, remembering that we can love because You first loved us.  Happy Valentines Day God.  Amen.

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