Always

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:6,7

When I checked out the verse of the day today, (and yesterday for that matter) I noticed that both days were parts of 1 Corinthians 13. Strange, it's never done that before. But then I realized that it's actually Valentine's week here, and that would be the reason for the love verses. (Insert rolling eyes smiley here.) See, Andy and I, we don't celebrate Valentine's day. In any way, shape or form. We celebrate our love, our marriage, and our lifetime together as one every single day of the year. Every year at this time we just shake our heads, and can't imagine why we would need to celebrate "luv" to each other via expensive gifts and dinners out.
Instead, we choose to take our example of love from the Bible. Rather than the commercial sense of love that says that we should be buying each other extravagant gifts, we choose to honor each other each and every day that we draw breath. The verse above says that love ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, and ALWAYS perseveres. Always. Not a few days a year just because the calendar says we should. And the best part about this love that we share, is that the Bible here is not necessarily talking about romantic love. It's talking about real love. True love for another human being- and even better, not just for our spouse. It's talking about the love we have for a brother or sister, or the love we have for a neighbor- the love that has us walk over in a 30 below windchill just to say hi and see how they're doing.

Love truly is a wonderful thing, and we don't need a date on the calendar to remind us to love, and we especially don't need to spend money to show our love.

"These things I command you, that ye love one another." John 15:17

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:36-39