Five Things I Love About...

I have really been in the valentine mood this year...”I'm in the mood for love simply because your near me...” anyone else?

I was thinking of ways to bless my family. I decided the best way, is to show them that I love them by using my creativity and make them a valentine. Then from the far reaches of my memory the sweetest picture of love came to the forefront drifting on the breeze...


One year, a while back, my son's favorite friend made him a book. It was a very special, out-of- the-blue gift. The title was “Five Reasons Why I Like Jacob” this was scrawled at the top in sweet beginner writing with backwards 'e's and large spacing in between the loose letters. Inside was such pure truths about my son, of course the reasons why this little boy liked my child.

1. I like Jacob because... he plays fair and is a good sport.

2. I like Jacob because...he lets me take my turn.

3. I like Jacob because...he likes the things I like.

4. I like Jacob because...he is nice.

5. I like Jacob because...he is a good friend.

Each wonderful reason was accompanied by a sweet little hand penciled drawing of the two friends! Simple. Honest. True!

His mother showed me before her son gave it to Jacob and we fawned and marveled at the pure joy and sweet tenderness of a first true friend. This boy is still my son's favorite friend. I think we all need a friendship like this one. I was thinking what a wonderful expression of love this was and I decided that it was a lovely model for me to use to make my valentines for my family.

Here are the valentines that I have made for my family expressing my love. They are just small tokens to remind them that they are not only special to me but also special to our Creator. This was a fun project and here in the Pacific Northwest there are no shortage of these lovely brown coffee sleves. So I used these to make little books depicting each person's personality and then wrote 5 Things I Love About.... and the person's name. I was inspired by Linda's blog The Art Sook Nov.13th entry aren't these too beautiful!

My prayer this Valentine's Day is for all to experience the deep love of Jesus that loves us even when we are unloveable and far from deserving it.

Much of the time I don't deserve it, that's what gets me every time. That is when my eyes well with tears, my voice gets stuck and I can't even utter the words thank you, Lord. I will never do anything that deserves the sacrifice of such a price. I often become bound by chains of self-doubt, anger, unforgiveness, selfishness, the belief that I am unworthy and unlovely, this is my prison of lies. But then, Jesus comes and untangles the knotted madness and then gives me His healing, restoring breath. I pray your chains be broken! You have been set free, just step out of your prison of sin, shed the outer, orange suit of lies and with head high step into the beautiful colors of sunlight and truth,

for you ARE a NEW CREATION.

Love comes in many ways, sometimes, all we need are five things I love about you to remind us we are loved and then other times we need to remember our justification. We are made new by the greatest love of all.