The Perfect Valentine

"No Greater Love"
Greg Olsen

I'm not totally sure what I'm writing about yet. I had an idea earlier that I promptly forgot about. But just now I had the idea to write about the Valentine that is always there for you.

My birthday is only six days before Valentine's Day. This means that half of my birthday cards tend to mysteriously all be pink and covered in hearts. Which, if you know me at all, you know is really not my style. But I allow it because, well, there's nothing I can do about it.

Exhibit A: Throwback to my first birthday in the mission when my
sister sent me this massive thing and everyone thought that I had a lover.

Valentine's Day is kind of a sucky holiday really. If you're single, you just spend the day 1- making fun of yourself for being single, 2- wallowing in the fact that you're single, or 3- both. If you're not, then you have to come up with something special to do that's different than the special thing that you did for: your significant other's birthday, Christmas, your anniversary, Mother/Father's Day, etc.

It's the only holiday that I can think of that is specifically geared towards only a fraction of the population; people with romantic partners.

I think you get the point. I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, not in the least because it's less than a week after my birthday.

But here's the thing, as I've been thinking about Valentine's Day, and just love in general, I can't quite feel annoyed at it.

Now I could go on and on about the love of my family and the love of my friends and such, but I don't think that that's what this post is supposed to be about. So let's see if I can figure out what this post IS about exactly.

The thing is, friends come and go. Sometimes family even comes and goes. And we know that boyfriends, girlfriends, and even spouses come and go at times as well. But there honestly is someone that doesn't. He doesn't come and He doesn't go because He's always been there and He'll always be there because He's never leaving.

You guessed it. I'm talking about God. Well, technically, I'm talking about two people; Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

They freaking love you SO much.

And the understatement of the year award goes to...

But really.

Do you really understand the depth of 100% real-deal love that They have for you?

I sure don't. It's completely incomprehensible. But I'll do my best to enlighten you just a little bit.

...............

Man. This is harder than I thought it would be. I've already written and erased a couple of different ideas.

Deep breath.

Okay.

Here's the thing. You have a Parent that loves you more than you have- or will -ever love anything here on earth. He loves you more than you love your family, your best friend, your spouse, your kids, your dog, etc. He loved you enough to send you here to earth to learn, and grow, and progress so that you can have everything that He, the Almighty God, has.

And He understands you. He knows your weaknesses and He knows the things that make you sad or angry or scared. And He understands that you can't be perfect right now because you're still learning.

You need to be perfect to inherit all that He has for you, but He knows that you can't become perfect on your own.

And because He loves you, He made the toughest decision ever. He had to choose to take His Son that IS perfect and ask Him to suffer so that you could come back to Him in a perfected state.

And that Son loved you enough to be completely willing to suffer all for YOU.

My absolute favorite song to perform (I sing) is "For Me Alone" by Sally DeFord. I love the music, the range, everything. But my favorite thing about it is the words.

Every earthly sorrow; every mortal pain

Every sinner’s anguish; the bitterness of shame

The weakness and the heartache that burden all mankind

For these the Savior suffered, for these He bled and died

And the lost and fallen multitudes of all the earth

Are ransomed by His offering of love

But if I alone had stumbled; if I alone had strayed

If I alone had wandered from the straight and narrow way

If I alone bore guilt for which my all could never atone

He would have come for me

For me alone

Tears of all creation; every debt unpaid

Warfare of the nations; every trust betrayed

Every falsehood uttered; every truth denied

For these the Savior suffered, for these He bled and died

And the lost and fallen multitudes of all the earth

Are ransomed by His offering of love

But if I alone had stumbled; if I alone had strayed

If I alone had wandered from the straight and narrow way

If I alone bore guilt for which my all could never atone

He would have come for me

For me alone

For love of all God’s children Christ redeemed us from the fall

His mercy without measure is sufficient for us all

But if I alone had stumbled; if I alone had strayed

If I alone had wandered from the straight and narrow way

If I alone were foolish; if I alone were frail

If I alone had faltered when the power of hell assailed

If I alone bore guilt for which my all could never atone

He would have come for me

For me alone

I honestly believe these words. 

Jesus Christ loves YOU enough to have come to earth and suffered unimaginable pain just for you.

He loves you THAT much. 

The Atonement really is the ultimate act of love. Because He didn't suffer for sin only. Oh no, He suffered all of it. 

One of my favorite scriptures, Alma 7:11-12, describes it perfectly:

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Succor:
Noun-Assistance and support in times of hardship and distress.
Adj.- Give assistance or aid to.

Christ suffered for your sins. But He also suffered every pain, affliction, infirmity, and temptation that you would ever experience. And He did it so that He wouldn't just cover the sin, but so that He would understand the sin. And not only that, but He suffered everything else too so that He would understand you.

Christ has literally felt every single sickness that you have ever had. Every stubbed toe and broken bone. He experienced your heartbreak when your loved one died or when you were betrayed. He has walked a mile in your shoes and He knows why you committed one sin or the other. He has felt the temptation. He has felt the loneliness, or addiction, or peer-pressure that contributed to your decision making.

Jesus Christ understands you better than you understand yourself.

He suffered literally everything that you would ever suffer because He wanted to know exactly how to help you through each and every moment.

Christ didn't suffer just because He was supposed to. He did it so that He could help you. He did it because He loves you.

Can you imagine that? Can you really picture someone loving you THAT much? So much that they would not only give their life for you, but also endure every ounce of agony that you would ever experience? All because they want to know how you feel so that they know how to help you?

It blows my mind.

It's crazy to think that Jesus Christ literally knows the pain that I feel when I cry alone in the middle of the night. Or that He can feel the weight of financial stress threatening to flatten me. He has felt my heart drop into my stomach every time I see someone that looks like my ex. And He has felt every monotonous moment of being sick that I feel.

Christ has felt my depression and anxiety. He has felt my self-consciousness and self-doubt.

He has felt my heart break a little more every day, and He has felt the strain of me trying to put it back together.

And so how can I be bitter and annoyed about a holiday about love?

I can't. Not this year at least.

I can't because I have suffered in a thousand different ways this year. Because I have felt (and feel) so lost, and weak, and broken. Because I sometimes feel like I'm never going to get better.

Because I know that He has felt all of that and that He is right by my side. Always.

Because I know that Christ felt all of my pain so that I would never, ever have to go through any of it alone.

And if Someone loves me enough to choose to feel everything that I have- and am -feeling just so that He perfectly knows how to get me through each and every day, then I've got to be the luckiest girl in the world.

And I am.

And you are the luckiest person in the world too.

Because you have the perfect Valentine too.

Christ loves me enough to have suffered all only for me if I was the only one that needed it. But He also loves YOU that much. And He also loved YOU enough to suffer all of YOUR pain.

So I'm going to wish you- without any irony to it -a Happy Valentine's Day. And I hope that you take a minute today to appreciate your perfect Valentine, because I'm going to do my best to appreciate mine.

For God so loved YOU, that He sent His only Begotten Son.

And His only Begotten Son loved YOU enough to go.



PS- This commercial was shared in yesterday's weekly devotional and I feel like it gives you a small taste of what the Savior has done.