Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Of all the snow prints I saw this past week, this was my favorite. It’s shaped like the official flower of my beloved home state of Alaska – a little blue flower with a yellow center, the forget-me-not.
I checked to see if it might also be the official birth flower of February, but discovered that honor goes to the violet. We could be forgiven if we thought February’s flower was the long-stemmed red rose, sold in such abundance for Valentine’s Day giving.
But I think the forget-me-not would be a very appropriate flower for this month of hearts and love. All the sources I checked agree that it symbolizes true love and faithfulness, and the promise of always remembering.
Our human love is prone to flicker, falter, forget, and fail. It tends to be an “if” love – we love people if they look fine and behave well — if they are lovable.
But God. How does God encourage us finite, fallible people to truly love?
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a NKJV)
Well. When I look in the mirror, I don’t see any resemblance! I see Jesus in those words, but not me!
Many years ago a friend phoned and said she would like to order a big batch of pencils for our church – we would then have them available for use every week and could give them away during events we hosted. She said she was filling out the order form at that very moment, needed to get this in the mail right away, and wanted to know what we wanted to have printed on these pencils, in addition to our church’s name, address, and phone number. (This was truly many years ago; there were no websites!) Space for this message was limited.
What message should we emblazon on our church’s pencils? I was home alone so could not consult with my pastor husband. I felt the burden of making this momentous decision on my own! My tendency is to overthink, to consider multiple options, to ponder a while, but under this pressure I blurted out:
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NIV)
(Although I probably capitalized it to He, because I’ve never become comfortable with referring to God with a lower case “h”!)
Our friend happily agreed with my choice, and we soon had hundreds of shiny blue pencils that highlighted our church, and God’s love, in gold lettering.
It’s in this verse that I understand the only way I can live out the love described in 1 Corinthians 13, by accepting God’s unconditional, freely offered love for me and asking Him to give me that same love for others. It seems to me that’s the only way we can honestly put hands and feet and voice to the gospel.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . .”
(Isaiah 49:15-16a)
God promises to forget our sins but to remember us. In turn, He asks us to remember Him.
In the midst of this world’s chaos and confusion, what a blessed privilege it is to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus, and to invite others to join us.