October 2, 2026
What do you think of when you think of Valentine’s Day?
Honestly, my first date with my husband was on Valentine’s Day back in 1974. He took me to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. That, my friends, should have been my first clue as to what our life would look like. Ha ha.
Seriously I do think about all the people I love. In our house on February 1st we start “love notes on hearts.” There is a basket on the table with cut-out hearts, markers, and tape. Each day, we all pick one person in the family to write a love note to and tape it to their door. You are supposed to pick a different person every day and this will continue through Valentine’s Day.
It has been so sweet to read all the hearts. They can range from, “I love you because you share your candy,” to “I love when you turn the volume down on your iPad,” or "I love you because you like to snuggle," to just “I love you to the moon."
There are several things this little “exercise in love” has shown me. One of which is we all have different ways of expressing and receiving love. It doesn’t matter how young or how old you are. You need to feel and see that you are loved. I’ve been listening to a new song lately and it’s called “House of the Lord.” The words have really made me think about how much we all need to have our hearts feel loved and safe, especially at home.
The first verse of the song reads:
“Has it been a long night?
Maybe been a long year, maybe been a hard life
Maybe you’re not alright
If you got a little red in your eyes
You’ve come to the right place
People like you, people like me
This is where we all find grace”
Have you been there? I know I have. Not just once or twice but many times. Home should always be a safe place. Home is a safe place when the people that live there are filled with the love of Christ.
I realize that not all homes are like that and it honestly makes me so very sad and burdened. At the same time, I am aware of how blessed I am that our home is a safe, loving place. When I read the hearts that were on all the doors in my house it made me realize that everyone in our house is safe and loved.
Are they always happy and peaceful? No. We have four little granddaughters that live there (with maybe just a little drama) but everyone in our home is loved and cared for by each other. I think if you have the love of Jesus in your heart then the love of Jesus is in your home.
I feel like we are all a part of the “love in our house” because we have the presence and love of Jesus in our life. Jesus is The House. We all mess up and say or do things we wish we had not. Jesus does not. He loves us, forgives us, and desires to have a relationship with us.
We tell our grandchildren all the time that nothing they do will ever change our love for them. The same with our kids and between Wayne and me. I want my family to know that no matter how hard things get, how many tears they shed, or how hard their life is, that they will always find grace and love in our home.
The last two lines of the chorus of the song read:
“Somebody who loves you is waiting at the door
It’s home sweet home here in the house of the Lord”
These two lines give me security and make me feel burdened at the same time. Security because I know I am guaranteed a sweet forever home in heaven. Burdened because I know there are so many people that do not have that assurance.
The desire of my heart is to love everyone, especially those people who might not feel loved. I think I have said before I am a lover of notes! I think that is why the love notes on the doors have been such a heart warmer for me. I am challenging myself and you to let people know you love them. I can be guilty of just “assuming” the people close to me know I love them but our spoken or written words are so powerful and assure others of our love. Isn’t that what God does for us through His written Word?
There are also people all around us that we don’t know personally, but they may have had a long night, a long year, facing sickness, feeling alone and they need to feel loved as well. A spoken kind word, a thoughtful compliment, or just noticing them and asking if there is something you could pray with them about might be the opening of a door to share Jesus.
What a difference we could all make by just sharing love abundantly. If you have read this far I want you to know that I love you. I am grateful for you and the fact that you read this column. I am thankful I have the love of Jesus in my heart and in my home!
Share the love of Christ with those you know, those you meet, and those who might just cross your path. You might be the only love they see. By sharing the love of Christ you can open their eyes and hearts to see and experience the love they need. “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is." (NLT, Eph. 3:18)
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!
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Jill Johnson, a staff member at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, finds spiritual applications in her everyday experiences as a wife, mother, grandmother and Georgian. Reach her at jjohnson@gabaptist.org.
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