If you’ve never read books my Pastor Scotty Smith, you need to check out this one  — Everyday Prayers. They are awesome.

A Prayer About the Ultimate Romance

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me. Song of Solomon 7:10

Gracious Jesus, it’s the day in our culture in which red hearts, overpriced cards, dark chocolates, and cut flowers abound—Valentine’s Day is upon us. For some, it’s a day of incredible kindness, sweetness, and gratitude. For others, it’s a day in which brokenness, loneliness, and emptiness are magnified. For all of us, it should be a day in which our deepest longings for intimacy and connection find their way home to you, Jesus, the consummate lover.

I praise you for your generosity, Jesus. You’ve given me incredible tastes of sensual wonder and joy in my marriage. There’ve been times when I’ve wondered how heaven itself could hold more joy than what I’ve known with my spouse.

I equally praise you for showing me, time and time again, that no one human being (or any number of them), no human romance story, no torrid love affair can possibly fill the vacuum in my soul that’s uniquely Jesus shaped. Even the best marriage is made of two broken people, two redeemed sinners who will ultimately not be enough for the other.

Grant me, no, grace me with a deeper and richer experience of belonging to you, Jesus. You’re the ultimate Spouse. I believe this, but I want to know it. One moment I believe you truly desire me, and the next I’m filled with disconcerting unbelief.

It’s in those times when I’m not alive to your pursuit of me, love for me, and delight in me that I place unrealistic demands on other relationships. Instead of being a steward, I become a user of others. Instead of being a servant, I take up a scorecard to measure them by my expectations. Forgive me and free me from all such nonsense.

Let me love as you love me, until the day my betrothal becomes the day of great banqueting—the day I long for more than any other—the wedding feast of the Lamb. I pray in your tender and tenacious name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 1328-1344). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Numbers 7

Think About This: Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Jonathan Edwards
Bible Memory: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11