Be Mine: A Mini Monday series-pART onE

Mini Mondays for the month of February is taking on a short series - "Be Mine". Each Monday during the month of February, I will be sharing a short devotional, which I hope encourages you and has you looking at those little valentine candy hearts a little different than before....

For as many years as I can remember, each February, I buy those cute little candy hearts that have the valentine sayings on them, and put them in a bowl for the kids to eat as a treat. But there was a year that those candy hearts weren't just a little Valentine's Day treat. A year, that changed the way I see this holiday; changed the way I look at those tiny little hearts. 

That year, like usual, I poured them out into a pile in a glass bowl on the table. As I nonchalantly went to grab one to pop into my mouth, I stopped. A yellow candy heart was staring back at me. Or rather the words on it did. "Be Mine". They were etched into it and they almost seemed to call me.  Normally, I would see this as a cute endearment to my husband, but at that moment I saw it as a love note. 

A love note from the One who loves above all others. A love note from the One who loves faithfully and eternally. The One who loves the worst and the best of each of us.

These two little words, "Be Mine", sat on my heart that day. I pulled the little piece of candy out of the pile and kept it on the counter. As I began to regard it as a love note from my heavenly Father, I pondered the significance of such simple words.

The simple definition of "to be" means to belong to. And "mine"? It refers to something that belongs to the speaker. 

These two little words became more than just "be" and "mine".  A question mark hung on the end of them. Not a statement but a gentle calling. A nudging. Will you be mine?

Does not the Lord ask each of us this very question at some point? "Will you be mine?"

He asks, "Will you belong to me? Will you put me before the world? Will you let me lead you? Will you have a relationship with me?"

We have a choice. A choice to be His! A choice to draw closer to Jesus, to discover our identity in Him, to build a relationship with Him, to believe, to be a child of God. He wants us to be His! And because we have the choice, He extends his hand, and perhaps is not actually holding a candy heart, but still He whispers, "will you be mine?"

Will you be His today? For the first time? As a recommitment?

Be His! Choose this over and over again. Every day. And place a candy heart somewhere you will see it often. Let it remind you, that He wants you to be His. That He calls you, on the days you feel near to Him and the days you may not be feeling so close. Let it remind you that YOU ARE HIS. 

Isaiah 43:1 says, " Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; YOU ARE MINE." (my emphasis)

and

John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God-"

Blessings,
Elizabeth