I remember every detail of a card I received early in my teens. Since then, family and friends have sent many cards on various occasions, but that Valentine is the only one I remember so clearly. The front of the card showed a rabbit, sitting on a low stone wall, announcing, “I wasn’t pushed; didn’t need a shove…” Opening the pop-up card caused the rabbit to fall off the wall. The words inside, “…I just saw you and fell in love!” communicated to me a wonderful message. I doubt Daddy had read anything about a daughter’s need for affirmation from her father, but he gave me a hefty dose that day.
My dad, always eager to show his love but rarely able to afford gifts, had a knack of finding appropriate cards. It wasn’t easy for him to say the words, but he communicated his love as best he could. That was the only valentine I ever got from Daddy. Most of the time, he bought cards only for my mom.
Another Valentine’s Day approaches. My dad gave me that special greeting card at least fifty-five years ago. A dad’s love for his daughter is powerful. I am saddened to realize there are many women and girls, just as there are men and boys, who have not known tender, even if rarely expressed, love from their dads. Even the most loving dads can’t always fulfil their children’s needs.
There is only One who can love us perfectly, and His love is the most precious. God wasn’t pushed. Unlike the whimsical rabbit, He didn’t fall in love with us. His love is a deliberate choice.
God’s tender heart is expressed repeatedly throughout the Bible. Sometimes it’s tough love that comes through, but it is always for our good. His love is unending. It is passionate. Isaiah’s words to Israel (43:1c) ring clearly. “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine” and a few verses further, he emphasizes, “…you are precious in my sight and honoured.” (Isaiah 43:4a) This love is powerful.
And, it is costly. Someone said, “I asked Jesus, ‘How much do you love me?’ He opened wide His arms as He died. ‘This much.’ “
The rabbit’s Valentine message means even more to me now than it did when Daddy gave it to me, but nothing compares to the love God lavishes on us.
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