Yesterday was my 50^th birthday, and I can say without hesitation that I have never felt more loved in all of my life. My family treated me like an absolute queen all day long. Friends and family from near and far sent greetings through phone calls, text messages, social media, and good old-fashioned birthday cards in the mail. It was overwhelming to say the least, and I cannot imagine ever feeling more loved.

As incredibly loved as this birthday celebration made me feel, it has also reminded me of how much more love IS than simply a feeling. Love is far more complex than that. Love is commitment to a relationship through good times and bad, and it doesn’t always feel good. Love is commitment to a relationship whether near or far, and that’s very, very hard.

Reflecting on the loving relationships my birthday has reminded me of, I’ve realized several facts about love that don’t often make it into the Hallmark store:

• Love is crying with one another, grieving the loss of a family member or close friend.
• Love is encouraging one another through injustices at work or in other relationships.
• Love is saying what needs to be said, even when it’s difficult to say and even more difficult to hear.
• Love is supporting one another through the consequences of poor decisions while graciously and patiently helping rebuild what has been broken.

Love like this rarely ever feels good. In fact, it often feels bad. It’s hard. As I think about the love that did feel so good yesterday, though, I realize that it came as a result of many years of these difficult love experiences with friends and family through the years. Loving one another when love felt awkward or hurtful was foundational to the love yesterday that felt so good.

It strikes me that this type of enduring love is surely of God, for it reflects His perfect love in so many ways. God’s love never fails. It sustains us through hard times and rejoices with us in good times. God’s love revealed most clearly through the gift of His Son must surely feel more than just good to our Heavenly Father, don’t you think?

         “God is love. This is how God showed his love among us:

         He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might

         live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but

         that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice

         for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also

         ought to love one another. God lives in us, and his love is

         made complete in us.”  (1 John 4:8-12)

This kind of love reflects sacrifice.

This kind of love reflects faithfulness in spite of rejection.

This kind of love reflects great courage.

This kind of love reflects Jesus Christ.

Whether we are blessed with friends and family who love well or not, we are all loved by a Heavenly Father whose love never fails. As difficult as it is to imagine, the amazing love that I felt yesterday pales in comparison to my Father’s love for me. How can that even be?!?

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
(“And Can It Be,” Lyrics by Charles Wesley)

The big “5 – 0” birthday has come and gone, but I pray the lessons of love that came with it will last long past the celebration.

God, teach us to embrace your love, so freely and fully given. Teach us to love others faithfully, even when we don’t feel like it. Give us strength to love well, even when others reject our love.  Forgive us when we adopt the world’s view of love, and fail to push beyond the inconveniences and unpleasantries that don’t feel good. Live in us. Love through us, thereby making us complete in the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit at work in us, for your glory.  Amen.