Being in Love

I wouldn't really know if anyone could relate to me, but I was one of the people who dreaded Valentine's Day. After all, I really don't have anyone to celebrate it with. Considering that I'm also one the most cynical people you would ever know, I really think [even now] that the so-called "special event" is just something cooked up by Hallmark to become richer, and it doesn't really do anything to help anyone else anyway. Add to the fact that I'm bitter about it [for reasons that I choose not to divulge], and you get me as your Scrooge for Valentine's. If there's someone out there who is as cranky about the "holiday" as me, we can go and form our exclusive club.But why be bitter when we know that the greatest Being in the world loves us? God says of us, "You are precious in my eyes, and I love you" [Isaiah 43:4].Even more, why be resentful when the One who loves us is Love Himself? 1 John 4:16 says, "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in Him." Be honest: do you really know anyone who would figuratively and literally give their lives for you out of love? I personally don't, no matter how much they love each other. How much more if one did something so horrible as to hurt the other? Yet because of His great love for us, Jesus chose to be crucified so as to save us from having the same fate. It's like whatis being shown in the movies, when the guy/girl intercepts the bullet with their own bodies so as to prevent it from hitting their loved one, who is really the intended receipient of it. Most people get "kilig" over those scenes, as I recall. What happens in real life is so much better though. Our lives came from God when He created us, but we turned our backs on Him when we sinned. Because of our mistakes, we find ourselves on the brink of death, but because Jesus loves us, He did not allow that to happen, and instead took our place and died in our stead. He who is sinless took our faults as His own to save us, and underwent through so much suffering: physical, emotional, mental, and even social. Yet He also rose from the dead, and He gave us a second chance at life. We already can feel His presence with us right now, but even more so when we end up being with Him forever. So we might not have physically someone with us. So what? We know that there's Someone who loves us even more than what the world can offer [Psalm 139]. Who knows? Maybe He can also provide another person for us. We shouldn't look for him/her in our own time though. Song of Songs 3:5b says, "Do not arouse or stir up love before her time has come." Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given you." Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight in the Lord, and He will give the desires of your heart." If it is God's will, then there will be someone with us. Whatever may happen though, God calls us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves [Mark 12:30-31]. What then can we do? Instead of being bitter, or inversely, believing in the power of Hallmark, believe instead in true love, the one that comes from God, and that which He calls us to live for.