Enough

Do you remember in elementary school when we would decorate shoeboxes so that on Valentine's Day our classmates would be able to drop in little cards or candies for us?

I do.

I remember loving the day when I would get to give out my Valentine's cards to my classmates and in return they would give one back to me. We were required to make a card for everyone in the class so that no one would ever feel left out. It was the perfect way to love on each other no matter what was going on.

Then comes middle school, junior high and high school. We weren't required to make cards for everyone anymore. You only got a Valentine from your closest friends or your boyfriend/girlfriend. Valentine's Day ended up being a way to measure your worth--an unspoken contest to see who would get the most cards from people.

However, these days, we don't need shoeboxes for that. We have social media. We count the number of likes we get on an Instagram picture; we count the number of retweets, the number of repins, the number of followers we have. Everything boils down to numbers. We base our relationships on numbers and the idea of quid pro quo-- "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". We only give as much as we receive. We like to keep the scales balanced. Our memories are long--thus we know what we are owed and what we owe.

But see, here's the thing:

Real love, it cannot be measured.

In Psalms, it is said: "Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds" (Psalms 3:19). God's love for us is immeasurable. It goes far beyond our comprehension. It stretches into forever, towards eternity future.

His love is one that holds no bars. He gives us everything, to the point of sacrificing His own son. At the cross, the perfect love of the triune God was shown most vividly as the Son bore each of our sins for us. This is unquantifiable, immeasurable love.

Our love for others comes from God. There is a passage in 1 John that I absolutely love and turn to every time that I need encouragement or need to feel loved.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God...This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us...God is love...We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:7-21)

We cannot truly love apart from Him. Only when we live and abide in His love may we begin to love others.

Which brings me to my next point:

We are enough for God.

We. Are. ENOUGH.

We spend our human lives wanting to be enough for people...for our peers. We want to be skinny enough, pretty enough, tall enough, funny enough, etc. We base our self-worth on being "pretty enough".

Here's the catch:

You are NOT defined by those six letters.

One of my favorite singers, Britt Nicole, says this: "We get so worried about being pretty. Let's be pretty kind. Pretty funny. Pretty smart. Pretty strong."

We need to stop focusing on the idea of being enough for humans and for society and we need to start focusing on realizing that we are enough for God.

He tells us in Song of Solomon: "You are altogether beautiful, my love. There is no flaw in you." (4:7)

God made us in His image. When we hate ourselves, we are ultimately rejecting Him and His creation.

The word pretty is unworthy of everything that you will become. It is unworthy of everything that you are right at this moment.

Darling, you are:

pretty intelligent

pretty creative

pretty freakin' amazing

So, let's stop asking: Am I pretty enough?

Let's proclaim to society that we are MORE than enough. We are the sons and daughters of a King who "made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We were made special and with a unique purpose.

My friend Blake posted a new spoken word this week which I think everyone needs to hear. You can find it by clicking HERE.

But, for this Valentine's Day, as society around us keeps tally of love, let us not forget that God's love for us is greater than we can ever imagine. It is more than the stars in the sky. It's immeasurable, steadfast and permanent. God's love for us keeps no record, because in Jesus, our debts have been marked: "paid in full".

In His Love.