Your name is on His lips
FacebookTwitterGoogle+DiggPinterestBloggerHe’d laid it all out on the sofa, pants draping nicely, shirt just so and the cap–oh, the feathered cap placed carefully at the side. Then, with monkey pillow pet in tow, he’d trundled off to bed, Daddy right behind, eager for the morning to come.
Lying in bed, I hear him. The Cheerful Cricket is up, and there’s a lot of cheerful chirping coming from the dining room. In the blink of one sleepy eye, he’s blown through his breakfast and he appears on my bed, clad in his special suit. Robin Hood, my friends, is in the house.
It’s Fairy Tale Day in kindergarten. They’ve been talking for days about princes and kingdoms. About princesses and castles. About dreams that come true and Happy Ever Afters. And today, they get to dress the parts. Get to pretend to be heroes. To play they’re all royals. Who, after all, doesn’t want to be that?
It’s Valentine’s Day, too; the day for love. Sitting there in the lamplight, I’m thinking of Little. Thinking of his happiness, his joy in pretending. Thinking of him in those green, baggy pants. Smiling over mother love that could work a safety pin and fix a thousand other things, too. (For when a fellow is Robin Hood, he shouldn’t have to worry about losing his pants; he really shouldn’t.)
Valentine’s. Sweethearts. Love and romance. All of these swirl together in my thoughts. A beautiful card with handwritten words of love from my own sweetheart lies close by on the table in the lamp’s soft light.
I open God’s Word. And I hear the Voice I’ve come to know and to love. “This is My Valentine for you.”
Sure enough. Tucked into Isaiah 43, it’s there. “But now, this is what the Lord says–he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.”
In the morning quiet, I hear it; hear the beating of His heart for mine. I feel it; feel the passion of the Heavenly Lover, the Lover of my soul. Oh, what a gift on this Valentine’s Day.
Head bending once more, I read the words again, take them in. They are bread of life, manna from heaven. Ah, here is the Grand Romance for which I was made!
This morning, I’m thinking of you. And I’m holding out my Valentine, for He means it for you as well. Married or single, young or old, we’re being romanced, you and I. Do you hear it? Hear His heart beating love in His creation of you? In His choosing of you as you are just right now?
He speaks comfort. Speaks peace. Speaks redemption and courage. “Fear not. O, fear not, for you’ve been redeemed.” And this, “I have called you by name, and you’re Mine.”
You’ve been chosen, dear one, by your bridegroom. Not alone, cast aside. Not forsaken, unloved. Not abandoned or rejected. Not ever; not once. You are cherished, so take heart and know this–your name is on His lips.