Valentines Day. Card manufacturers, gift shops and florists love it. Probably even the post office loves it. Chocolate confectioners count on this day to keep them in the red, as do purveyors of red roses.

But for all the candy hearts and red balloons, cards and restaurant dinners, I’m willing to guess that only a tiny percentage of people feel loved, a tiny percentage of the time.

Children feeling pushed, criticized or ignored by parents, or worse, abused.

Parents frustrated with the ungrateful child, or mourning the anger or loss of a prodigal, offspring they poured their lives and hearts into, only to be shredded in the offing.

Singles yearning for a mate, a partner on the other side of the table, someone to wake up with and grow old with.

Marrieds yearning for a connection to that partner across the table, fearful of growing old in a frozen wasteland.

Our hearts yearn for love, we seek to love, and yet, even in the best of times, fall short. Sometimes, fall to pieces. Or just fall, hoping we’ll land, or be caught.

Our hearts are shaped for love, created by Love, to love and be loved. And to never be fully satisfied, never enough love.

Until we are home, with the Beloved.

Life is a strange dance we step into, loving, ducking, failing, trusting again, always looking over our shoulder for the big moment, for the love that fills us up, makes us whole, complete.

As a young teen, I expressed my struggle with the vulnerability of love.

Slowly, gradually, I began to look up, right there in the muck, to see the face of love, smiling from the cross, life poured out to love me thoroughly. No matter how long it took, he never gave up loving me, seeking me.

And you.

God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all! His love never quits!
Psalm 136: 23-26 (MSG)

And now, on the other side of the cross, of the receiving, the filling, I am still learning how to live, to love. What else prepares us for eternity?

To learn the yearning of our hearts. To Love.

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (MSG)

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Ephesians 5:1 (MSG)

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
1 John 4:19 (MSG)

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
I John 4: 7-10 (MSG)