"I was thinking about you earlier!"

My older brother sent me a Valentine this weekend. It was short, sassy, and made me smile because it so thoroughly captured how he says things. Those two sentences on a pink construction paper heart got me thinking.

An aside: long time no see! We took the past year and a half to live through senior year of high school and are now well into our freshman year of college! You might hear more from us these days, especially me. Madeleine has a really neat blog of her own-- you can check it out here. 

Back to that Valentine. I got to thinking, "I crossed his mind one day, and he had the forethought to write me a Valentine and tell me that I crossed his mind and that he loves me." Then I thought about all the people who cross my mind all the time who probably will never know. Family, friends, people I met once, cute waiters, people I wish I had apologized to, people I recognize on campus but have no idea if they know me...

So I want you to know that you crossed someone's mind today. You mean a lot to someone out there. Maybe they're shy or distracted or not able to communicate with you currently, or maybe they have communicated it to you but for whatever reason your heart won't believe it, but you are precious to someone, today and every day.

You are cherished, loved, and known. In the post-Valentine's Day season, when too many people are bashing themselves or feeling sorry for themselves for being single, or worse, bashing and pitying one another for being single, I think it just might be especially important for you to take a moment and understand that you are loved exactly as you are. 

This isn't just true because you crossed someone's mind today though, and it's not true for the people who crossed your mind because certain bits of electricity made certain connections in your brain. It's true because we are all loved and known by our good Daddy, which is even more exciting in my opinion. I'm loved because God says so, and there's nothing that'll change that. You're loved because God loves you and says so, and there's nothing that will ever change that. How. Freaking. Cool.

It's well-cited, but God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) Daddy loves the world and its people: YOU. So much that he let his own Son die (if you poll most parents, they wouldn't be stoked about letting their kids die, especially if they have just one) for you. And for me. That's mind-blowing grace that I'm not quite able to wrap my head around, but I hope that you and I both can grasp just a taste of it today-- that we can understand that he loves us beyond anything we know or fathom, and that that cannot and will not change ever.

Challenge: tell people when they cross your mind today. Tell them that they matter, tell them that you love them, tell them that you miss them. Ask for their opinions, ask how their days are going. Reach out, put others first, and tell them that you're thinking of them. Sometimes, that's all it takes to bring a smile to their face.

Keep smiling, keep dancing, and know that you are loved.

xoxox Lo