Love demands

Pink and red cards lay scattered over my desk. I methodically sorted them into three categories: unwanted cards were stuffed inside my desk, average ones were shoved off into a corner, and the remaining card – that one I never let go of. It was February 14, 1987, and I was a grade four boy with a crush. With the “icky” cards segregated and the “okay” cards relegated, nothing could distract me from the only Valentine that mattered.

I pondered its details. A luscious scoop of ice cream exuded from an artfully rendered waffle cone. Scratch ’n sniff, naturally. Hearts in various reddish hues danced around the cone, encompassing those memorable words: “the Scoop is . . . You’re my Valentine.” Had the Bard himself ever penned a pithier phrase? After a moment’s admiration, I flipped to the back. “To Marshall, from Paula.” So matter of fact, so direct, so truthful.

After the elation of experiencing my Valentine, I wandered around to see the second-rate cards my classmates had received. At my friend Matthew’s desk I spotted the impossible: another ice cream cone smothered with hearts. Surely it was a cheap imitation! I grabbed the card, turned it over, and froze. “To Matthew, love Paula, XOXOXO.”

With Matthew’s card in one hand and mine still in the other, I marched to Paula’s desk and prepared to unload two scoops of indignation.

“Excuse me,” I said, as she innocently looked up, “there appears to be a discrepancy here.” I pointed out the obvious oversight on my card. Paula sighed, grabbed the card and her pen, and “corrected” the inferior wording.

I took back my card, slapped Matthew’s card on his desk, and returned to my seat a happy boy. I hadn’t won her affection, but I’d achieved salutational equality, and that was good enough.

It didn’t take too many years to realize how immature I had been that day. My jealousy had been laughable; no person can force another to love them. Even our Creator – the One who wrote and lived the ultimate love letter and now requests first place in our heart – allows us the freedom to obey. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” declares Deuteronomy 6:5, a verse quoted by Jesus in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Earlier in Deuteronomy, part of the reason is revealed: “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (4:24). We were made for Him, and He knows He’s best for us.

Unlike prepubescent boys pining over otherwise-smitten girls, our Creator has every right to demand our love. How will we respond?

Marshall Janzen lives in Regina and attends Parliament Community Church. He is webmaster of the Canadian MB Conference.