|
Listen to this devotional: |
Listen while you read: "Here O My Lord"1 (Lyrics) |
Psalm 37:4 – Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (NRSV)
How many of us can remember the image of Charlie Brown, of the comic strip Peanuts, sitting with his back against the mailbox post? He was dismayed that he had found no note from the little red-haired girl, who was the object of his affection. As we approach this day of hearts, chocolates, and flowers, one can be forgiven for feeling out of the loop if, like many of us, we are for one reason or another not able to celebrate this day of love with a designated other.
Some of us may be bereaved after many long years of partnership. Some of us may find ourselves having loved and lost, unable to find the stability that we had hoped for. The truth is that God knows our needs, offers to lick our wounds, and provides for us everything that we need, if we devote ourselves to serving Him and letting Him be our focus.
I would like to think that had I lived in the third century AD, Saint Valentine of Rome would have been a friend of mine. He helped persecuted Christians find love and marry. Since then, he has become the patron saint of beekeepers. What a gift to us all: sweetness and love! He was martyred for his efforts on February 14, 269 AD, under the rule of Emperor Claudius II. But many centuries later, we still remember his gifts to those around him, we indulge in a little sweetness, and we pass along greetings of love.
The psalmist has a positive suggestion for anyone sitting forlorn against the mailbox. If we can put our trust in the Lord, He can take all our angst and enable us to move on to a more productive life beyond the spirit of those days of the year that elude us. Sweetness and love are best savoured in Him.
Prayer:
- Dear Lord we thank You for the day
When one we love passed by our way
But better yet that You provide
A better Friend to take our side.
If we can trust and put aside
Our angst and fears and just abide
In all You've promised for us clearly
These holidays won't bum us yearly.
The little notes You send each day
Will carry us along our way
Your Word sent to us from above
Is better sweetness, better love.
Amen.
Forward this devotional Share this devotional on Facebook Like PresbyCan on Facebook
Although PresbyCan doesn't have a mobile app, you can still have a PresbyCan icon on your mobile phone home screen. 
Thank you.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Beautiful prayer. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing with us.
Thanks for the good reminder, Stan.
Thank you for writing. Good message.
A beautiful contribution! Keep them coming!
(ON)
Thank you, Stan, for a lovely devotion; very timely and inspiring.
Delighted to see you have put your gifts of writing and theology to good use.
Blessings.
Thank you for your encouraging Devotional on this beautiful day in the high desert of So. Cal. God bless you and yours.
Amen Stan! God is our everything and a better love and helpmate cannot be found.
Thanks for a good and true word today.
Blessings.
Greetings Stan,
I really enjoyed the devotional you have presented today. For sure there is no greater love than which we receive from our loving Lord. He is there for us at each and every circumstance we face in life. The prayer you presented in poetic form was special too. Blessings for your writing today.
Dear Stan,
What a lovely devotional and great way to look at Valentine’s Day. I was smiling as I read your whole devotional.
I have been blessed to still be with my loved one, but I have watched many friends figure out how to cope with Valentine’s Day when they are no longer with their loved ones. Some do it well and some still struggle.
A great prayer for all of us no matter what our situation is. Thank you for sharing a very positive and encouraging message. May you “take delight in the Lord” tomorrow and every day. Blessings.
Oh Stan, how your whole message resonated with me!
You are so right that God knows our needs and as we look to Him, provides everything we need! With it being almost 3 years on my own without my dearest companion on earth, He has given me hope and strength to carry on. I even bought myself a little rose plant this week, “Just because.”
I really appreciated your poem/prayer. It verbalized beautifully my very thoughts. Thank you so much.
Many Blessings to you.
I think you wrote the little poem, Stan. The ‘won’t bum us,’ line, made me smile. I have married again after my first husband died (after many years together). I am very happy and grateful as I see God’s hand in it – my husband wasn’t sick and died on the very hole on the golf course where he said often he wanted his ashes scattered. God is active in every detail of our lives and my husband’s many friends all said they sure wanted to go the way he went…surrounded by those he loved in a place he loved. I had to be happy for him. And I am.