Today is a day of love. It’s the one day of the year, here the the US, set aside for intentionally giving and receiving love. It’s Valentine’s Day. The day where most every man in America woke up feeling already not enough for the woman he loves. The day women across the country wake up with high expectations, and go to bed with deep, unspoken disappointments.
So, ladies, let’s have a little talk. Let’s talk about those expectations. Let’s talk about the strings you tie to love today. Strings that say flowers show appreciation, dinner shows love, and gifts show every other unspoken thing he ought to be feeling. Bring on the massages, the hand written letters, the candles, the romance, bubble bath with rose pedals, and a customized playlist. He needs to show he’s been thinking about this big day for WEEKS! Ladies, you are doing one huge thing here … you are setting your man up for failure. He doesn’t speak “woman”, so quit getting so darn upset when you claim you don’t want flowers, but secretly feel butthurt that office delivery wasn’t for you today. He’s not making you a playlist, or truly enthused to watch a chick flick with you. Get over it!
Here’s the problem … you’re showing up to this relationship with a totally flawed human being, with a hole within you he’s expected to fill. He’s supposed to be your “person”, your “everything”, the one who “completes” you. BUT NO HE’S NOT!
That hole in you is a God sized hole which only God can fill. You were designed with it so all the days of your life you would need your Creator. Trying to fill God’s hole with anyone or anything else leads to a huge disappointment. Expecting anyone else to complete you, heal you, restore you … well, that’s a role no one was designed for other than Jesus.
Jesus isn’t showing up with flowers today. Jesus isn’t taking you to dinner tonight. Jesus didn’t write “Happy Valentine’s Day, my Love” on your mirror. Yet, he is the purest example of loving you WILDLY!
A wild love.
Have you ever thought about why I say that? Every day, at the end of each episode, I end with “I love you wildly.” What exactly does that mean?
Many years ago, God revealed to me his WILD love for me. A relentless love that would walk through fire for me. An unending love that would wait out my stupid wandering years for me. A natural love that wasn’t forced, but flowed freely without boundaries. I had an image of a wild horse. A horse that had been untamed. A horse not held by any fence or rope. A horse free to be his wild horse-self, running freely, unbroken, unrestricted, unbridled. And in this image of a wild horse, God showed me this is how he loves me, and this is how he wants us to love.
To love with no strings of expectation. No limits. No walls or fences. Freely. Openly. Naturally. WILDLY.
And this became my quest, to love wildly.
I love you without the restriction of you loving me in return. I love you without the string of you believing exactly what I believe. I love you with our differences. I love you with your flaws because I certainly show up with my own. And this love cannot, will not, be tamed. It will not be withheld. It will remain WILD.
Why is it so easy for me to extend that wild love to a complete stranger, yet hold back my love when my own family has disappointed me? Hmmmm, sit with that one for a moment.
God is asking for your WILD LOVE today, because this is his example to you. It’s what he gave you first, then he left the door wide open for you to come into a relationship with him when you’re ready. Are you ready? Your right relationship with him will change every relationship you will ever have.
Are you ready to receive the love that perfectly covers every mistake you’ve ever made? Are you ready to receive a love that divinely directs you without restricting you? Are you ready to receive a love that is guaranteed to never waiver for a single moment of eternity? Are you ready for a love that will give you immeasurably more than you could ever ask or imagine?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
I know you’ve likely heard that verse a thousand times, so you automatically dismiss it with an “I know, I know already. God loves me.” No, girl, God loves you WILDLY! It’s ridiculous what he did for you. He gave his one and only son, Jesus, for you so that you wouldn’t waste away in this life.
Over 20 years ago, a stranger rang my doorbell in El Paso, Texas. I opened the door and he introduced himself. In exchange I told him my name. What followed next still impacts me to my core today. He looked at me with absolute holy confidence and unwavering faith, and he said, “For God so loved Pamela, that he gave his one and only son.”
This man didn’t know me. He didn’t know my past. He didn’t know my mistakes. He didn’t know the things I was wrestling with that very day. And none of that mattered, because absolutely none of that changed the fact that if I were the only person in the world, God would have given his son Jesus for me.
That’s a WILD love.
And this wild love of God is for you. If it were only you, Jesus would have still gone to the cross. Why? Because God SOOOOO LOVED you. That’s “so” with a whole lot of o’s … Sooooooooo much. That’s an arms wide open, holding nothing back and giving absolutely everything kind of love. And isn’t that what Jesus did? You wonder how much he loves you? He stretched out his arms on that cross and said, “this much.”
We adopted our girls from an orphanage in Mexico when they were 5 and 6. They came to us only knowing Spanish, and we only knew English, so it was a few months of playing the most messed up game of continual charades in our house. There were mistakes, like my inability to roll my r’s caused me to offer the girls a hot fart for dinner one night instead of a hot dog. They passed. But my favorite memories were of the girls grabbing our faces with their little hands, and with everything within them, they would say “Te quiero muchooooooooooo, Mommy. Te quiero muchoooooooooo, Poppy.” This new life was immeasurably more than they could ask or imagine.
Wild love. Unrestricted, natural, flowing, beautiful love as it was created to be, with no strings or expectations.
And today, your loving Creator is grabbing your face with both hands, and with everything within him he is saying, “Te quiero muchooooooooooo, my girl. I love you soooooooooo much.”
He has proven there’s nothing he won’t do for you. He gave his all. He gave his best. He gave his one and only son. And he did it knowing you would mess this thing up. He did it if it were only you. He did it not because he had to, but because he wanted to.
And then Jesus drops the big bomb in John 15:12 “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
This wild love without boundaries, restrictions, or strings which I have given you, now I want you to go love like that! And let me be real clear on the US national day of butt hurt women disappointed in their men, this wild love starts at home, and it starts with you GIVING instead of expecting to receive.
You don’t get to go to the grocery store today and hand out compliments, without starting at home. You don’t get to be overly kind to your waitress today, while being a real hag to the people you live with. You don’t get to show up at the office with gifts and treats like you cherish them, if you don’t first cherish the ones God has entrusted to your care.
Love WILDLY today. Cut the strings. Drop the expectations. Love the unlovable. Not because of what they do, but because of who you are.
You are like that wild horse running freely, doing what wild horses do naturally because it’s who they were created to be. You were given a wild love with no walls, no fences, and no strings, now give what you have been given. Love as you have been loved.
Love sooooooooooo much. Te quiero muchooooooooooooo. Love WILDLY!
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