I took my daughter to Dollar Tree this week to buy some treats for her preschool Valentine's Day party. I found exactly what I was looking for - an entire display full of pink and red junk. Pink teddy bears holding hearts that said "hugs and kisses." Silk roses that had messages like "Be Mine" and "Love Always." Heart-shaped suckers and chocolate in shiny pink foil wrappers. Balloons, cards, light-up necklaces, napkins, paper plates. All for only one dollar each. I waded through the merchandise to pick out just the right sugary treat to include in my daughter's Minnie Mouse valentines for her classmates. I also scanned the shelves for something that wouldn't break the Henkle's frugal February budget, but would be fun for the kids and the husband to receive from me on the day celebrating love. I couldn't help but think there must be a better way to communicate my love than a junky item from the Dollar Tree...
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| image credit www.revivewales.com |
So, on this Valentine's Day weekend, I give you a hymn that was once known as the love song of the 1904 Welsh Revival. Over 100,000 people in the tiny country Wales were transformed by the overwhelming love of God. Evidence of the people's encounter with God showed up everywhere. Crime was so drastically reduced that police were unemployed. Judges had no cases to try. Bars and taverns went bankrupt. And the tidal wave of revival did not stop in this small country, but spread all over the world.
Unlike my Valentine's Day shopping this year God's is not frugal. God's love is a vast ocean. A deep and wide fountain. An incessant river of grace and love. The truth is, my daughter will be thrilled to get her pink wand and butterfly wings on Valentine's Day. I know my gift will make her happy. And the best part is, it only set me back two dollars. But God is not just out to make us happy. He wants to make us holy and whole. His love can and does transform lives, families, communities, states, nations. As I celebrate the people I love, I look to God who is love. May you experience his vast, deep, transforming love this Valentine's Day.
Here is love, vast as the ocean, lovingkindness as the flood
When the Prince of Life, our ransom, shed for us his precious blood
Who his love will not remember? Who can cease to sing his praise
He can never be forgotten throughout heaven's eternal days.
On the mount of crucifixion, fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide
Grace and love, like mighty rivers, poured incessant from abouve
And heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love.
Let me all thy love accepting, love thee ever, all my days
Let me seek thy kingdom only and my life be to thy praise
Thou alone shalt be my glory, nothing in the world I see
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me, thou thyself has set me free.
In thy truth thou dost direct me, by the Spirit, through thy word
And thy grace my need is meeting, as I trust in thee, my Lord
Of thy fullness thou art pouring thy great love and power on me
Without measure, full and boundless, drawing out my heart to thee.