Friday, February 11, 2011

I love your Guts

Well girls, it's that time of year again. You know the time I'm talking about, when the entire planet seems to be covered in puffy pink and red hearts and lace. Cupids and bows line the shelves of every store, and anything you want can be found in a chocolate-covered version. Everywhere you look things are wapped in "cute," bundled in"adorable," and tied up in "precious."
Last week I had the rare priviledge of running errands with only one of my three children. That alone is a Valentines miracle. I spent the afternoon with my youngest, lovingly known as G, a rough-and-tumble kindergartener who always has a way of making me laugh. He can be down-righ hilarious, and almost equally profound. On this particular day we had stopped by the grocery store, and were almost immediately drawn to to the Valentine aisle. As we looked at the teddy bears, candy, and of course boxed cards for the Kindergarten class, he suddenly blurted out, "Mom! Did you KNOW that our hearts don't really look like Valentine hearts? They are really just guts and stuff!"
He had recently learned this fact at school, and couldn't have been more surprised that our hearts don't really look like hearts at all. After an extended anatomy discussion in the stationary aisle, 14 varieties of character Band-Aids caught his attention and he moved on. As we finished our shopping I couldn't help but think about the profound statement my little man had made. Our hearts aren't cute, pink, tidy packages. They are guts and stuff. They are not always pretty. They are messy and complicated. All of the other people in the store were walking around with complicated, painful "guts" beating inside them, and I was suddenly more aware of it.
As we enter into the "Season of Love" so many of us and those around us are hurting. Maybe this Valentine's Day you are not feeling the love for your loved ones. Maybe you feel alone. Maybe someone close to you has suffered loss of some kind. Maybe you have some really un-lovable people in your life. Maybe things are absolutely perfect for you and you wonder how long it will last. Whatever your situation looks like, one thing is for sure. You, the people you love, and your circumstances don't fit into a sweet little heart shaped box with ruffles on it, and that is okay. No matter how you feel deep down in your heart (or guts), you have a LOVE who "takes great delight in you" (Zeph 3:17).
My hope and prayer for you and me is that over the next few days we are truly able to enjoy the long, wide, high and deep love God has for us. He is downright crazy about you. As you go about this week, look for evidence that He loves you. It is everywhere! And while you're at it, why not give the people in your life some evidence that He loves them too. This Valentines Day take the opportunity to really love someone, guts and all.

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