Flowers. Candy. Hearts. We've come to associate these gifts with the widely celebrated holiday, Valentine's Day, taking place each year on the 14th of February. For all those couples out there, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you enjoy celebrating your love to one another. To all those singles who have lived to see yet another year and still haven't found the one that you will cherish for now and always, you might be thinking, "Great, a whole day devoted to everything that reminds me of being single." And let me tell you, I am right there with you. It's tough when your friends are dating, getting engaged, tying the knot, etc... not to feel a little lonely, empty and without love. I've felt that way at times like these and when you feel that way it's important to be encouraged.
I'm part of a Christian community at Florida State University known as the Navigators. Their goal is to know Christ and to make Him known and they focus their time investing in students, equipping them for the work of evangelism and discipleship. I love it! Being a part of such a community has been such a blessing in my life. Each year the Navigator men put on a Valentine's Banquet in honor of the Navigator women. The Nav guys create a lovely evening for the Nav women by preparing dinner, song and encouragement, followed by lots of dancing. It's a wonderful time of encouragement for the women and makes us appreciate the Navigator men just that much more. This year was no exception. On Saturday evening, the Nav girls arrived, in semi-formal attire, at the banquet to be escorted in by a Nav guy, her seat pulled out for her and pushed back in, followed by being told how beautiful you look. Our orders for dinner were taken and our food was brought out to us. After dinner, there was a time of encouragement where all the men stood up and said something they appreciated about the Nav women, which was wonderful and finally, they performed a song. This year they did a play off of Justin Bieber's Baby and they did such a wonderful job. I think all of the girls' hearts turned to wax.
Even with all that encouragement though, I still ended up feeling lonely and wishing that I wasn't going to be single on yet another Valentine's day yet, it seemed inevitable and I am still single as I write this post. That being said, I woke up this morning to find that someone had slipped a note under my door. I opened it up and almost immediately started to cry. My roommate, the beautiful Miss. Sammi, had written some of the most encouraging words to me and I am so thankful that she did because it led me to Colossians 3:12: "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved..." She reminded me that I am not alone in this world and that I am loved not only by people but that I am dearly loved by the God of the universe! How incredible is that?! God chose me out of this world, he set me apart, and set his steadfast love that never ceases upon me (Lam. 3:22). I don't need a man to make me feel loved because I already have the greatest love that can ever be given in Christ. He died for me, while I was still his enemy, a sinner in the sight of God (Rom. 5:8). He took my punishment so that I might come to God (1 Pet. 3:18) and God made me alive in Christ (Eph. 2:5). Now that is love. Not roses or chocolates, but love that compelled Christ to lay his life down for sinners like you and me, love that forgives, love that redeems, love that never ends, love that will never fail. So this Valentine's Day I could choose to mope around and throw myself a pity party or I could use this holiday to show the love of Christ to people who may have never seen or known it before. I choose the latter and because of that I can be content in the love of Christ and use my season of singleness to glorify God and prepare myself for when I will marry. Viewing my singleness as a gift rather than a burden refreshes me and encourages me to live for Christ. If marriage is part of God's plan for my life, then God knows exactly who it's going to be and when it's going to happen. There's nothing for me to worry about.
