Love Stirs

We do not possess God. Yet our very lives, anywhere and at any moment, cannot fail to be the object of divine love.
-John W. Riggs

It is Valentine's Day. The day of love, right? Or is it the commercialized day of roses, red hearts, desserts, and chocolates? We all need more than one day of love. We need a love eternal and never-failing. So let's look beyond all that other sugary stuff for a moment...

God's love is a mystery. It stirs our souls. What have we ever done to deserve such divine love? Since our creation we have failed, time and again. Throughout the ages, stories in the Bible tell us of God's people turning away and sinning, forgetting about the love they once knew. Or giving up when the situation looked dire. Or following other gods.

What is our normal reaction when someone we love turns away or finds something else and follows it? Do we get angry and bitter toward that person, or do we view that person with kindness? Our normal reaction is the former, I would think.  
And yet with God it is not like that. God is always here, ready to love, already loving. All this time (and before our time) He has loved us. But He doesn't force it upon us.

True love is not forced. If it is forced, it is not true.

So we have a choice to receive the love God offers, or not. He already thinks of us before Himself. Proof of that is Jesus. The whole reason Jesus came among us was to die....so that we might live. Because He loved us. First. Always. It's a love full of divinity, selflessness, mystery, hope, promise, and joy. Isn't that what we all need?