Roses, chocolates, jewelry, cards, boxer shorts with hearts, February is abloom with promotions for symbols of love!  Although good for the economy perhaps, it all seems so silly sometimes.  Human endeavors to promote love pale in comparison to the authentic love of God.  In meditation and quiet, God’s love can be felt in the heart with no outer symbols whatsoever.  It gushes from a never-ever-ever ending source; it floods the heart that is open to it with understanding and wellbeing.  God’s love can arrive at the most unusual and inopportune times, perhaps when God senses an opening in an otherwise well-defended heart.  It can arrive when you’re lost, alone, heartbroken, sick and broke, or it can pop up when you’re on top of the world.  Unannounced, uninvited, the presence of God’s love sometimes just shows up and we are changed. Our hearts belong to God and God must find the sweetest joy in filling them up with the very nature of its being.  

If you’re 42 with a non-stop life, or 84 and all alone on this St. Valentine’s Day, know that you are God’s Valentine.  Outward symbols and remembrances from others are lovely but not at all necessary for deep inner contentment and joy.  On this St. Valentine’s Day, give yourself the gift of a long quiet moment in a comfortable chair.  Forget all your relationships, your stuff, your obligations, your debts and your debtors.  Forget the hurts and pains physical or mental.  Close your eyes, breathe slowly, close your ego, open your heart.  Let God love you, for you are without question, God’s beautiful, cherished, and beloved creation.