Valentine.

Let me tell you of the greatest love of all.
One that no red roses, no amount of chocolate, no amount of pink confetti hearts could afford.
But the love that is free. 

It's a funny paradox, isn't it? A love so great, that no earthly, material gifts could afford, how then, can it be free? 

This is a love that is secure, a love that overwhelms, a love that is home-ly. 
This is a love that so many yearn for, a love that many look for, but they look for it in people who fail them. Many look for this love in others, they look for the other person to satisfy them, to fill their void, their need for love, their need for validation, their need to be needed.
A completely normal, human desire.

But yet, this greatest love of all will never fail. 
It is a gift that promises all things and more and fulfils it;
It is the fragrant red roses that will never die;
It is the yummy box of chocolates that will satisfy you forever, not just for 5 minutes. 
It is so much more than all we can ever imagine it to be. 

It is the love that bore the crown of thorns, the love that endured physical torture, emotional pain, spiritual disconnection. 
It is the love that, "though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to grasps" (Phillippians 2:6) 
It is the love that empties Himself so that we can be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:21) 
It is the love that loves perfectly, sacrificially and obediently. 

It is the love that God has for His people, to send Jesus to die for our sins so that we can be reconciled back to this perfect love. 

And if this is the greatest love, are we really bold enough to ignore it? This love, unaffordable by the things of the world, only asks for you to have a little faith, trust in God, to believe that He is our Saviour. Because even in this bleak world, there is hope, but only in the Cross of Christ. 

Hannah