The Healthy Heart

It's February! Which means it is the middle of winter, and though it is cold and snowy outside, this is the month that tries to capitalize on "Love", as something "warm and glowy" on the inside. Valentine's Day is a popular "holiday" on the annual calendar. Children look forward to having another party in their school rooms, dread having to send cards to members of the opposite gender (though secretly relishing when they receive one from certain ones!), and all love getting more candy. Women may look forward to flowers, chocolate, a date at a nice restaurant where socks are actually required, and so forth. Men may also enjoy this time of year as well, while many of us scramble at the last minute trying to find the right card or gift to express our love to our wife. These all are fine things, but let's remember to do them truly for the benefit of the OTHER, and for any ulterior motive in mind. Above all else, the human heart is made for giving and receiving love with genuine sincerity. That is what nurtures true intimacy, builds security, and mutually meets the needs of others.
So in order to have a truly "Healthy Heart", let's remember what God has prescribed for us as the true character and nature of that oft used, but rarely thought out word, LOVE! Examine closely what the Apostle Paul is saying from I Corinthians 13: 1-13,

I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.
I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains---but if I have no love, I am nothing.
I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned ---but if I have no love, this does me no good.
Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;
love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs;
love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.
Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.
Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass.
For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial;
but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.
When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways.
What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete---as complete as God's knowledge of me.
Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.

I pray you all take time to dig deep into this passage and ask God to "flesh" love's true meaning out in our lives and relationships. True Love really is a "many splendored thing" when, with God's help, we understand His love for us in Christ, and we can confidently give our love to others. So have fun and enjoy the love of God, spouse, children, and friends!
Love and Blessings!
Shawn