"Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity."
It seemed to be an appropriate refrain given that it was the day before Valentine's Day. As I was getting ready for church, I continued to sing the chorus. It caused me to think about Derrick's and my first date (26 years ago this Friday). The date was arranged between Derrick and my Dad - I was out of the country at the time and Dad informed me of it upon my return. We went to a little coffee shop in our neighbourhood where we sat and talked for over 2 hours. The very first thing Derrick said to me after we sat down was...
"I believe I'm going to marry you some day so I'd like us to start a dating relationship."
Six weeks later we were engaged, thirteen months after that we were married. In ten weeks we will celebrate our 25th anniversary.
I had warm, fuzzy feelings and found myself smiling a lot as I recalled those special moments. Then I thought about how similar that story is to my love relationship with Jesus...
1. It was arranged by my Heavenly Father.
2. Right from the start, Jesus was totally committed for the long term.
3. We're still together after 40+ years.
I thought about that fact that staying married has taken commitment, dedication and effort. I then thought about how retaining my position as a child of God, friend of Christ and part of the body of Christ is similar - it's taken commitment, dedication and effort on my part and God's.
As this Valentine's Day comes to an end, I am not only thankful for the grace, patience and tangible expressions of love that my husband gifts me with on a regular basis, I am thankful that God grants me those gifts as well. I am reminded that I need to be consistent and diligent about investing in my love relationships with Derrick and God; an investment with a guaranteed ETERNAL return. I am also very thankful that I belong to Jesus and that He belongs to me - for eternity!
Happy Valentine's Day!
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