When I was a little girl, I always looked forward to the Valentine’s Day class party at school. I would get dressed up. My mother would make cookies (we could take homemade ones back then) and I would pick out valentines to give to all of my special friends. I enjoyed receiving attention from others, handwritten notes of love and affirmation from friends, and dreaming of the day when my one true Valentine would come and sweep me off my feet.
Be My Valentine.
What do those words really mean? “If you love me, then you will bring me flowers”. If you love me then, you will take me out to dinner.
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Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” (Genesis 3:13 NLT)
I’ve read this Scripture verse many times and always thought about how angry God must have been at Adam and Eve. As a parent, I know I would have been angry. I mean, really, the one tree they were told not to eat from is the one they couldn’t resist.
But not long ago I was reading this section of Genesis, and I heard something different in God’s words.
“What have you done?”
I heard sadness and disappointment.
God created Adam and Eve desiring the personal relationship He had with them.
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There are a lot of things that happen in life that don’t make sense. Friends have marriages collapse and are left to sort through the broken pieces. Loved ones go through the heartache of losing expected life and are left with questions and a hole where there was supposed to be anticipation. A family member gets sick and battles diseases like the “c” word with great faith and courage, only to be left without the testimony of beating it. Hard working husbands lose jobs and the financial security we thought we had is gone just as quickly as it came in the first place.
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A baby bird wobbles across the grass in our backyard.
It has fallen out of its nest under the eaves of our roof.
The bird flaps its tiny wings, trying to fly, but it doesn’t get more than a foot off the ground.
I look out the window, watching, worried… wondering how it will survive.
I get a piece of bread, break it into crumbs and tiptoe out into the backyard. Slowly, quietly, I sneak up behind the bird and drop some crumbs on the ground hoping it will eat. But it runs away, scared.
Then the most amazing thing happens.
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When I was a child, I loved to play “Peek-A-Boo” with my parents. It was my chance to deliberately hide. But hiding wasn’t the best part for me. It was in being found where I experienced the most joy. Growing up, I often felt unseen. So much activity surrounded my older brothers and sister, as well as the baby, that I often felt pushed aside. So imagine my joy when my parents would be intentional in their pursuit of me as we played this game . It was my time alone with them. Uninterrupted. They had to come looking for me.
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There is next to nothing in this life that can be accomplished without work. I am trying to lose ten pounds, which requires work. I have to exercise if I want to see results. I have to sweat and strain and push myself, if I have any hope of reaching this goal.
I want to be better about buying and grocery shopping so as not to waste food and money, that also requires work. I have to make a menu, and plan, and then I have to take four children to the grocery store and try not to break the wine bottles and jelly jars as we careen through the aisles.
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For years I had the same dream several times a week. I lived in a nice house where life was full and happy. There was only one problem . . . there was always a pet, usually a dog, living in the basement. That in itself was not a problem, I love critters, the problem was that I continually forgot to feed her and let her out.
My neglect always led to feelings of guilt and fear of what I was going to find when I went downstairs to check on her. Finally, tired of waking up feeling like a failure before my day even started, I prayed and pondered – what was this dream trying to tell me.
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It wasn’t like I turned my back on God. 
I just couldn’t fit Him in my schedule. The birth of our third child pushed me over the edge – the pages of my carefully crafted day planner fluttering in the breeze. Normally, I spent time in Bible study and prayer in the morning after the kids left for school. But nothing was normal.
I tried getting up earlier for a while, but my sleep deprived body revolted. I tried doing it during naptime, but realized I needed a big dose of Jesus just to get me through the morning.
For two years (Did you read that?
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