Life Set Apart

A Valentine’s Day Devotional:
Deeply Known & Endlessly Loved

Original Audience: MomCo

What is your role this Valentine’s Day? 

• Maybe you’re the gift giver, instead of the receiver
• Maybe you’re making an endless amount of Valentine’s for the MomCo kids, daycare kids, teachers, Sunday school classrooms, and every classroom your kids attend and you’re feeling a little burnt out
• Maybe you have made the cute valentine’s day baskets for your littles while dreaming of the perfect date night with your spouse 
• Maybe you don’t particularly like this Holiday at all or even with all your efforts you feel a little let down at the end of it all and you anticipate that coming 
• Maybe you desire simplicity – such as take out and some one-on-one time with your spouse. 

Well, wherever this Valentine’s Day leaves you, I want to refocus you on an eternal perspective. Hopefully this will take you away from the fleeting focus of Valentine’s Day and refocus you on Jesus’ love for you and how you can share this love with your spouse and kids. 

You and your kids are deeply known and loved. Many Mamas & Kids are searching for greater self-understanding and self-acceptance – to be fully known & fully loved. Underlying their search is a desire to find someone who truly understands them and accepts them as they are. We Mamas search for this from our spouses, kids, families, or friends. Our kids search for this from us. However, Jesus is the only Someone who can fully satisfy this deep-seated longing. It is in your relationship with Him that you discover who you really are. As you draw near to Him, rejoice greatly, for you and your kids are fully known and forever loved this Valentine’s Day. This will leave you with abundant Joy on Valentine’s Day, despite how many flowers you receive or if your husband forgets about it entirely. 

Our Jesus tells us that He understands us completely and loves us with perfect, unending Love. He knows absolutely everything about you – the season you’re in, your desires & longings, your sin, your troubles, your present, and your past, what you hide from others, and what you tend to share – and despite all, He loves you with unfailing Love. So spend time this Valentine’s Day resting in the wonder of being fully known – yet delighted in! 

Moms, You don’t have to work trying to earn His Love. No amount of Valentine’s Day baskets or cards can drive Him to love you more or your kids to love you more. And no lack of cards or explanation of how you desired to be loved or taken on a date can make Him miss the mark. The truth is, nothing could ever stop Jesus from loving you. You are His, bought with His blood, you are accepted and treasured forever, no matter your efforts. You need to tell yourself this truth over and over, till it seeps into your inner being and changes the way you view yourself. Take the time to not only know you are known, but to ask Jesus to teach you more about His children that he gave you to love, to know, and to share His endless love with. Refocus yourself and your family on Jesus’ love this Valentine’s Day – from your Creator Himself who knows you fully and loves you endlessly. 

So whether you spend countless hours preparing for this Holiday, or tend to ignore it’s existence, or you find yourself feeling a little disappointed with the outcome because the ones you love on this earth didn’t quite fully see you or get the time to know you to prepare a loving gesture for you this Valentine’s Day, I encourage you to prepare your heart and reflect on His love. Encounter this day knowing you are fully known, fully loved, and the love you receive from Jesus is what you outpour onto your kids. Jesus’ love is not disappointing. His knowledge of you or your kids is not subpar. To know you are known and that is your deepest longing, ask Jesus to show you more about your kids and how you can shower them with His love this Valentine’s Day. Use this Valentine’s Day to teach your kids that they are fully known & fully loved by Jesus alone. 

For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know full, as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 

Prayer: 

Dear Jesus, this morning we come to you wherever we are, however we are wrestling with this upcoming Valentine’s Day or excited about the fun plans we have set in our path. We come to you in thankfulness that we can only outpour this love we have for our children because you first loved us. You love us fully, not in part. You fully know us. You know our desires, our hurts, our longings, and we find comfort in being fully known by you Jesus. May we acknowledge this love from you this Valentine’s Day and may we pray now that we seek to love our spouses and our children the way you love us – unconditionally, with understanding, with your eyes, to fully see them and fully know them like you do as they grow and change throughout the course of their life. When we cannot know them fully, and when we fail to love them as we should, may we be eager to point them to you, the One who fully loves them endlessly. And when we ourselves as Mamas & wifes feel unseen, unknown, or underappreciated, may we reflect on You, Our Creator, Our One and Only Jesus who knows us fully and loves us forever. 

In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.