Slideshow image

Marriage sort of passed me by. I guess you could say I married my vocation instead of a person. Over the years, I’ve watched many couples navigate life together. I often found myself wondering what that kind of love is like. What’s it like to love someone so deeply that you want to share every moment—day after day, year after year? That seems like such a long time, yet people do it. My parents, for example, have been married for 59 years. Can you imagine that? Nearly six decades of life’s highs and lows, joys and struggles. Through all the changes life brings, they’ve continued to choose each other. That kind of commitment amazes me. I imagine that even with love, it still takes hard work, patience, grace, and forgiveness to sustain a marriage.

As we approach Valentine’s Day, I’ve been reflecting on what this holiday means beyond chocolates and flowers. It’s a day many associate with romantic love, but its origins tell a much deeper story about love rooted in sacrifice and faith. Valentine’s Day is named after St. Valentine, a Christian priest who lived in the third century. According to tradition, Valentine defied Emperor Claudius II, who had banned marriages for young men in an attempt to strengthen his army. The emperor believed that unmarried men made better soldiers, but Valentine saw marriage as sacred and continued to perform weddings in secret. When his actions were discovered, Valentine was arrested and eventually executed for his defiance. He gave his life in the name of love—both for God and for those couples he married. His story is a reminder that true love often involves sacrifice, courage, and an unwavering sense of trust and hope.

This week, as we laid Kathy West to rest, I thought about that kind of enduring, faithful love. Kathy and her husband, Hugh, shared a deep and abiding love that stood the test of time. Hugh passed away before Kathy, but the love they shared never faded. It was evident in the way Kathy carried his memory in her heart and in the reminders of him she kept around her home. Kathy expressed her devotion to Hugh in a beautiful poem she wrote on their 26th anniversary in 1984. It’s a testament to the kind of love that endures through every season of life. I’d like to share it with you as I did at her graveside service:

“May we never again be parted in this life we live on earth.
May we never suffer sorrow that we cannot share in trust.
Let us always be faithful to our love born long ago.
As we look to each tomorrow with a soft and kindling glow.
May we love as God intended in this world He gave to us.
May we live our lives together in His love and in His trust.
For I love you as no other and I wish for you forever,
Until it’s time for me to go.
For when this life is over and a new one calls to me,
I hope to leave with you good memories of how I loved you so.
But should you go before me, I’ll follow if I can,
And if it be God’s will for us, I’ll pray we meet again.”

 

This poem is a powerful reminder that love, when nurtured and grounded in faith, endures beyond time. It reflects a love that is more than emotion—it’s a covenant, a commitment made before God to walk through life together, come what may. But it also points to an even deeper truth: the love of God. Just as Hugh and Kathy trusted in their love and in God’s guidance, so we, too, are invited to trust in the enduring, steadfast love of God—a love that never leaves us and holds us through every season of life, even death.

Paul reminds us in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, this Valentine’s Day, as you celebrate love—whether it’s with a spouse, a friend, or family—remember that you are also deeply loved by God. The kind of love we long for in life, the kind that sustains and comforts us, ultimately comes from God. It is God’s love that carries us through all things. And that is a love worth celebrating.  See you Sunday!

Peace, Pastor Tracy