A Post Valentine’s Day Look at Love

  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us… 1 John 3:16

I had finally poured myself into the welcoming comfort of my bed and was drifting off to sleep, satisfied after a long and tiring day of chores, to do’s and errands when he finally arrived.

He crouches low, to my level, seeing if I am awake. He’s got his hands behind his back and that gleam in his eyes I know well, and adore. I peek back at him with heavy lids, grateful he is home as we are being pelted by one in a series of snowstorms this winter season.

Confirming my sleepless status, he proceeds to hand me one of my favorite kinds of chocolate combinations; after all, who can have just one favorite chocolate combination? I appreciatively tear into the chocolate before drifting off into dreamland, my last recollection being his kiss goodnight.

The next morning I awake with the half eaten wrapped chocolates by my side and it is then I notice the red envelope. In my sleepy, chocolate influenced state I missed the envelope. I decide it should be savored over coffee, so I slide into my slippers, glance at my soundly sleeping other half, scoop up the envelope and make my way to morning salvation: the coffee pot.

I settle into my cozy chair and open the envelope as I watch the snow falling, thankful for a warm house and a hubby who reveals Christ to me in a million tiny gestures daily.

As I continued watching the snow fall, I started contemplating how much my definition of love has changed over the years since we first met. I remember the immature, self-centered, demanding and limiting love that colored my perception and understanding.

I also consider his quiet, faithful presence in my life. My hubby is not overly religious, although he had a traditional, religious upbringing. But, it is in his non-religious ways he actually reveals the hidden character of Christ to me.

 It is in his simple daily offerings I see Jesus more clearly.

How, after working all day he’ll still come home and whip up a meal that could make Paula Deen swoon. How, after one of my emotional outbursts and rants about raising a stranger who happens to be our teenage daughter he never makes me feel badly. How, when I make a mess of something, he is right by my side, ready to clean it up, without lecture.

Come to think of it his manner is not unlike the gentle falling snow, making everything white, soft and beautiful; gently present, quietly touching unexpected and secret places.

It is in the simple daily moments God wants to be intimate with us. 

He wants us to see Him in the million tiny offerings that are before us each day. He longs for us not to miss His accessibility, His easy going, ever present presence. He came so that our simple moments would become the meat of our existence.

When we look beyond the grand expectations and gestures of what we think love should be, we will see the love that is beautifully abundant, before our very eyes. 

May we see Him and others in the moments offered to us in the present, for in these moments love is truly near to us, available and abundant. 

 

6 Responses to A Post Valentine’s Day Look at Love
  1. Susie Klein
    February 23, 2015 | 12:05 pm

    Oh my heart! Dawn this is simply beautiful! Just wow!

    • Dawn Paoletta (
      February 24, 2015 | 10:15 pm

      Thanks, Susie! Appreciate your faithful encouragement.

  2. Suzie
    February 23, 2015 | 1:09 pm

    Wow. I feel the same way about my husband. This was so wonderful Dawn. What an encouragement you are to me. God blesses your writing to shine for Him Keep doing what your doing!!

    • Dawn Paoletta (
      February 24, 2015 | 10:16 pm

      Thanks, Suzie! That is my prayer, to shine faithfully in Him, through Him and for Him!

  3. Jodi Stapleton
    February 23, 2015 | 7:45 pm

    Beautiful Dawn! So elegantly written!

    • Dawn Paoletta (
      February 24, 2015 | 10:16 pm

      Thanks, for reading and commenting, Jodi!