He Enters Gently: A Reflection on Being Truly Cherished

Valentine’s Day is a day we celebrate love — mostly romantic love.

I have a love-hate relationship with this day.

I remember what it felt like to be married and alone.

To feel unseen by the one who mattered most.

The pain is healed. Forgiveness sealed.

But I remember — and I remember with compassion.

Some of you are alone because you never had a plus one.

Some of you thought you did — and were rejected, abandoned, neglected, or abused.

I scroll, and I notice the difference.

Some celebrate quietly — secure, grounded.

Others celebrate loudly — almost urgently.

Sometimes beneath the celebration I hear a whisper:

“See? I am loved after all.”

“I am good enough.”

I know that voice.

I have lived that lie.

And over time, I learned this:

Being chosen for a moment is not the same as being cherished without condition.

And that is why I want to tell you about a love that does not need a holiday.

I have seen this love.

Yes — in a dream.

But a dream so real I could still feel it after I woke.

We locked eyes.

His gaze was love — so deep, so pure, like nothing I had ever known.

There were things rising in me.

I wanted to speak.

But I dared not.

Not out of fear —

but because I did not want to disrupt what I was feeling.

I did not want to interrupt that love.

I did not want to put an end to it.

It was deep.

It was unending.

It was freely given.

And in that gaze, I knew I was loved; I belonged.

That love has never left me.

And it is not reserved for a dream.

He knows how to find you.

Under a tree.

At a well.

In a cave.

He knows your love language.

He knows how your heart was bruised.

He knows what was mishandled.

If you feel unseen today, you are not invisible to Him.

If you feel unchosen, you are not unwanted.

If you feel alone, you are not alone.

If you can, open even the smallest space.

Even a crack in the door.

The love you are searching for is already searching for you.

And when you turn toward Him,

He runs toward you.