Be Mine

Valentine’s Day is what I like to call the “un-holiday” holiday. You don’t get a day off work, but if you’re not careful, you’ll still gain five pounds or more. All that chocolate, and my favorite—those little powdered-sugar hearts with messages on them. Those are the best.
My favorite Valentine’s Days were the ones in elementary school. We got to put away our schoolwork for a while, break out the Elmer’s and make a big ‘ol red, white and pink mess on the floor as we decorated white lunch sacks with cut-out hearts. And remember those Valentine men we made, with the accordion legs? Those were the best. 
That’s one of the reasons I became an elementary school teacher. I wanted to make the Valentine men. 
Plus, there were those awesome boxes of perforated Valentine card kits with monkeys and puppies and the I-think-you’re-great-and-I’m-not-lyin’ lion. They’d come complete with heart-shaped lollipops to stick in the little slots in the card, after you wrote your name on the back of each. 
When the big day came, our teacher would tape our decorated bags to the chalkboard trays and call us by rows to add our cards to each bag. Then we’d play pin-the-arrow-on-the-cupid and eat the room mothers’ offering of pimento-cheese sandwiches and heart-shaped sugar cookies with red icing. 
In my teen and college years, I spent my Valentine’s Days with a different kind of Valentine man. Boys, really. A new one every year, for a very long time. It’s silly—and a little embarrassing—to remember how many of those boys pledged their eternal, undying love for me. I’d smile and accept the chocolates and roses. They usually didn’t last very long—the boys or the chocolates. 
But one Valentine has lasted. On my first Valentine’s Day, He was there. At those grade-school parties? Yep. He was there. He went on every date with me and held me through every broken heart. He pledged His eternal, undying love for me before I was ever born, and He’s never left me for a single moment. 
During the high times, He’s laughed with me. In the low times, He’s cried with me. He’s sent me more than just roses; He’s grown fields of wildflowers for my pleasure. He is the definition of love, and although He’s a king and could have anything He wants . . . He’s chosen me. 
Wow. He wants me. 
Perhaps you feel lonely this Valentine’s Day. But our feelings aren’t always accurate, are they? You’re not alone. There is One who loves you with an everlasting love. He’s always thinking of ways to woo you, to draw you to Himself. He will never leave you, and He looks for opportunities to show He adores you. This Valentine’s Day and every day, He longs to be yours, longs for you to be His. 
Look closely. I’ll bet you’ll find a secret Valentine’s message just for You as He whispers, “Be Mine.”

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness,” Jeremiah 31:3.