“This is love: Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:10-11

Everyone has a heart; it’s a muscle about the size of a fist, located near the center of the chest. This muscle beats about 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, pumping blood along 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the body. We can’t live without a heart. Because of its importance, we often associate love with the heart. That’s why so many valentines today are shaped like a heart. When God wanted to show his love for me, he did more than send me a heart-shaped card. His valentine was not brightly colored, pressed paper but the precious form of his own Son His card didn’t just speak of love for me on one special day but every day. God’s valentine to me is Jesus, God’s loving heart made visible. It is God’s loving heart doing for me what I couldn’t do—God’s loving heart saving me from my sins and for his heaven. What a valentine for me—today and every day!

The more I appreciate God’s valentine to me, the more my heart will respond in grateful love to those around me!