"Did you ever get stuck?" and "What is Love . . . ?"

That's Sam, as she tried to turn around in the middle of a narrow path after the first storm six days ago. We'd walked to the back gate where we put corn for the deer, just pushing the snow as we walked. 24" is a lot of snow to push around!

The second storm brought our total to 40+ inches. We may have had two blizzards, but 40+ inches of snow is not going to stop me from posting my Valentine post . . . What Is Love? Hope it touches your heart . . .

What is Love? Brocade curtains . . . boots Ingrid’s father wore, and an engagement ring . . .

I rarely watch television anymore, and we don’t have cable, which is a good thing I suppose. I’d rather read or watch DVDs of my own choosing for my entertainment. But a number of years ago, there was one television series that I loved to watch– Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Maybe it was the romance of life on the frontier that drew me to it. Whatever it was, I watched faithfully from it’s beginning in 1993 to the last show in 1998.

As a gift to myself, I recently purchased the complete series, and I’ve been enjoying the shows as I go through the box of 42 CDs. Thankfully, Jerry liked the show too, so he watches with me.

The other night we watched “What is Love?” as the cast prepared to perform Romeo and Juliet. Brian, the young boy, was writing an essay about love, and as the show ended his essay declared brocade curtains, boots Ingrid’s father wore and an engagement ring love. These were stories in that episode.

But Jerry topped this saying, “Love is trying to explain ice cream to someone who’s never tasted it.” It brought fun laughter to my face–we love ice cream! A little while after, the thought came to me on how to explain faith to someone who doesn’t believe.

Many words came to my mind . . . hope, trust, forgiveness, comfort, rest, peace, and integrity all came to mind. Following are words from faithful men and women:

“Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at his Word.” Arthur Benoni Evans (1781-1854)

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you cannot understand at the time.” Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

“Faith is not anti-intellectual. It is an act of man that reaches beyond the limits of our fives senses.” Billy Graham.

“Faith is knowing something is true, but you can’t prove it, and you prove faith by the way you live your life and treat others in Jesus name.” Jerry

“Faith means being grasped by a power that is greater than we are, a power that shakes us and turns us, and transforms and heals us. Surrender to this power is faith.” Paul Johannes Oskar Tillich (1886-1965)

"Faith see’s the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983)

All this because of trying to explain love. I can certainly identify with this description: “Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time.” Anonymous

I hope your Valentine's day will include special care for those you love. And a warm and sincere thank you to God for the greatest love gift of all . . . Jesus!