Ahhh, the day of LOVE.  It’s Valentine’s Day, 2021.

I love this day!  (pardon the pun)

Perhaps you can look for it in the very same room and find it right there.

Perhaps you can see it in the eyes of your children.

Maybe you can find it on the street from a stranger selling flowers.

Look into your furry friends’ eyes… you’ll definitely find it there.

You can even create it at the grocery store, buying flowers alongside your milk.

This day of love, however, can also remind us of lost love.  The word itself can conjure up feelings of broken love…. Love that we cannot mend.  Like a fence, weathered and worn, and unable to fit together any longer.  We can replace the posts but, in the end, it just does not fit well enough to last.

We can apologize in the hopes of mending fences; yet still be left with splinters.

It takes all of the posts and pillars working together to make a fence complete.

I have had this “fence” thing going on for my entire life.  The pillar, the main post, just does not fit the slats.  As forgiving and as apologetic as I have been, it just will not stand the test of time.

I am highly imperfect; but, I believe in the perfect love of Christ.  I have been blessed to find love in so many amazing people throughout my years.  I am blessed to be a part of my “core four” of a husband and two boys with whom I find more joy in loving than even being loved. 

He resides in us so that we may know love.  He even challenges us to “love they neighbor.”  And some neighbors are easier to love than others, am I right?!

Yet, it is simply her.  The one in which I can never mend (I know, “never” is a strong word, but trust me) the fence.  The one who is supposed to have love for us before we are even born… unable to be broken, yet it is.  The mother.  My mother.

As my life has evolved, I have learned that fences are not the end all, be all.  Sometimes, it is better to be free.  Releasing the “should be” love and trading it for what “is” love.  Hot d@#^!  There it is! 

As our heavenly father shows us what love is, we should recognize it.  We should let go of the fenced-in love… and take hold of the love he intends for us.  The recognition of healthy love (bigger than the Cupid Hallmark kind) is the successful focus of the action.

My grandmother, the true mother to me, filled my heart with immeasurable love.  She was my life blessing, as continues to be a model for myself as a mother.  I miss her every day, but I know she soars in heaven; and her love still surrounds me.  I hear her voice come flying out of my mouth daily, as my kids shake their heads mimicking my younger self.

I have learned to focus on the healthy love in my life…the love which brings me joy, over sadness.  To #+!! with the frustration, and bring on the delight! 

Love is a word.  Love is a feeling.  Love is an action.  A trifecta in four letters…and, the love Christ is the only pillar we need.

“Love each other as I have loved you.”

     John 15:12

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