"If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15)

A little "valentine" I made from my incredibly awesome husband...

I was thinking about love on Valentine's Day, which is appropriate for such a day. As I was pondering love and love stories and what love really means I thought about what I have learned from being married (to an incredibly amazing man I might add). I have learned that love is more than just gifts, romantic dinners, and making love whenever we want. True love takes work. True love is sacrifice. And in the end, true love is totally worth all the work, energy, and sacrifice.

As I continued to ponder true love this scripture popped into my head: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). To me, that is some pretty deep love (understatement). Actually, it is true love.

As I pondered this love, I thought about what we can do to show our love for Him. He tells us how: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).  He doesn't say "Buy me things and then I will know you love me", or "You only have to keep half of the commandments because you are so awesome and doing whatever you want will make you happy". Nope. He's actually really direct and doesn't beat around the bush about how to express our love for Him. "If ye love me, keep my commandments". That is true love of God.