The Most Excellent Way

It's Valentine's Day. Somewhere between the cheesy pick-up lines ("Is there a ninja in your pants? 'Cuz your booty's kickin'!") and the warmed-over schmaltz ("No, I love you more!") there's actually an upside to singling out a day that recognizes Love in all its splendor: if you really love someone, you get to spend the day meditating on that.

You get to think about how it feels for tiny little fingers to wrap around yours out of simple curiosity.

You get to think about how it feels to pull the covers up to your chin, turn to your best friend in the whole world, and say, "I love you, you know that?"

You get to think about the hugs that will come your way when you walk through the door and announce, "I'm home!"

You get to think about the endless kisses, laughs, stories and memories you make on a daily basis.

As a minister, I've done numerous weddings, and without question the most popular passage of Scripture for reading is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. In case you've not heard that passage, here it is from the NIV:

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 record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

Think about those words for a moment, even if you're not particularly predisposed to like much of anything the Bible has to say. Take away the Christian context and you're still left with a powerful description of love; a description that so enthralls that religious and non-religious alike have it read aloud on the day their love is joined in marriage.

Patient. Kind. Not envious. Not boastful. Not prideful. Not rude. Not selfish. Not hot-headed. Not vindictive.

Can you say those things about the way you love your spouse? Your kids? Your significant other?

Today is the day to think about these things; to revel in them if they are present in our lives and loves, or to make changes to bring them about if they're not. Don't let the candy/flower/massage oil people steal the focus away from what matters.

Celebrate what the writer of 1 Corinthians called, "the most excellent way."

Love. Love deeply.

And share it with those whom you love most.