snow & sunsets & singers

ok, i've been having the BEST valentine's day & week ever!!!

first, let me start by revising one of my new year's goals. the one about dating twelve guys this year. scratch that! i'm not going on any more dates this year. no dates. none. nada. nicht. (isn't that "no" in german?) so what am i going to do, you might ask? well... i'm going to focus on my relationship with GOD... loving Him... accepting His love... sharing His love... it's gonna be all about GOD. why? because He is truly worthy of love and honor and praise and everything! and lately i've been far too distracted by guys or the lack thereof to truly notice and appreciate that.

usually when you break up just before valentine's day, it's not a good thing... but... this time... i really and truly turned it over to GOD. i gave Him my hopes, my dreams, my "what might have been's"... and in return... He gave me the best valentine's day i've ever had!

for starters... on the day after i "gave it all to GOD"... it snowed! i love snow. it's one of my favorite things. i'm not really a nature-lover, but i do love a snowy landscape! especially sitting in the atrium at work. it's the perfect place to watch it snow. it's like a snowglobe (but in reverse, because the snow is on the outside of the globe, but you get the picture...) so anyway... when i saw the snow... i really felt the presence of GOD... as if He wanted to let me know that He sent the snow for me... as a reminder of His love. GOD knows us in very personal ways. i believe that. He knows what touches our heart because He made our hearts in the first place! :)

then... that night... as i was driving home from work... GOD painted the most beautiful sunset! sunsets are my other favorite thing in nature. and at that moment... i knew... that GOD was there. i knew that GOD would always be there... to love me... day and night... forever! it was the perfect personal expression of love that i needed on that day. and GOD knew it. He always knows it.

so i was beaming inside. filled with love. and i wasn't worried about "suffering" through the "love" holiday with a broken -- no -- "disappointed" heart.

then the big day comes. valentine's day. i was dreading all the flower deliveries that day... sad reminders there were no flowers for me... (wow, that sounds really selfish in retrospect!)... but... GOD changed my heart about that. when i saw flowers coming, i was actually happy. it was so sweet to see how happy the women were when they got their flowers. i actually found myself feeling happy for them... without any twinge of jealousy or bitterness or other selfish feelings. i actually smiled... genuinely!

and then... we had special visitors... a barbershop quartet who came as a "singing valentine" to two of our supervisors at work. (one of whom was jeff r... see photo below.) since i missed their performance, jeff r.'s wife, tracey, brought some of their candy to share with me. well... one of the guys in the quartet heard tracey & said that it was sad for me to miss that on valentine's day... so... they gathered around & sang to me! it was such a special moment! seriously. i always thought i would be embarrassed to death at something like that... but not so! call me a crazy spiritual sap, but i kinda think that GOD sent them to sing to me. i know they were literally sent to sing to jeff r. & jim w. but they sang to me, too. and they didn't have to do that. they weren't getting paid to do that. they just did it. randomly. just because. (but i like to think that GOD put the idea in their minds...)

and so there you have it... my three point sermon on why GOD is the best valentine! snow. sunsets. singers. three simple expressions of a GREAT LOVE!

go ahead... kall me krazy...