I hope that February is coming along well for each one of you. My prayer is that God is constantly leading and guiding you each passing day with His loving and gracious hand.

Because guys! Time is flying… Small small we will be in March, then April, then September, eventually it will be Christmas again… 2023… 2025… 2030… 2050… 2080 and so forth.

And on that note, I just remembered a childrens’ story book I read just recently. The book had such a beautiful storyline incorporating the life of William Tyndale.

The setting of the story is in the Renaissance; a time when the Catholic Church had tried to suppress the light of the Gospel for financial gain, as a means of covering corruption, greed and other innumerable and unspeakable ills.

But God. He always has a plan to thwart the wicked purposes and intentions of man, and He always has a people in mind to accomplish His perfect plan.

William Tyndale —for this case. The Bible, in those days was read to the people only by the clerics, and it was read in Latin. Remember? The dangers of blind religion.

At that time, the only English translation available was a hand-copied Wycliffe Bible. It was Tyndale’s desire for all people: peasants and nobles alike, to have God’s word in their own language and read it for themselves.

His passion led him to challenge one of the clerics, saying to him, “If God grant me life, before many years pass I will see that the boy that drives the plow knows more of the Scriptures than you do!” Yes to that courage and boldness everyday!

He began translating the scriptures, and by God’s grace, he completed the translation of the New Testament in English. However, he was arrested, condemned as a heretic and executed without having the opportunity to see the fruits of his labor, for which today, I can personally say, “I can read the Bible in English.”

And before you think, “what a shame, such a sad ending… how could God?” Let me just slide in a truth I am coming to terms with day by day these days, which is,

1 John 2

17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

And this is one of the manifold beauties of Christianity— that physical death can never hinder the purposes and work of God.

Writing that year to year timeline as I was beginning the post is what made me think of that story… And specifically the phrase… “If God grant me life, before many years pass…”

If I were to re-write those words in the place of my life, they would read, “If God grant me life before many years pass, I will express in writing, in deed, in truth and authentically: the depth, length, the height, the breadth, and the width of God’s love— to every single person who will ever read my work, or to those I will ever be blessed to know.”

I, thus conclude this short digression here before it becomes a novel.

Anyways…so yes… to the purpose of my post today. It is Valentine’s Day and yes! I have a date in the evening! Last year, I discovered this secret place… a hidden gem, a treasure’s trove, a precious getaway, a safe space for introverts… I discovered a small library right under my nose.

I remember when I first walked into that library for the first time. (I cannot recall what my thoughts were exactly.) But it is possible they were, “my lovely library, can’t we just get married right now because we were meant to be together forever? I never ever, ever, ever want to leave you. I will even pay for all our wedding and honeymoon expenses, I will cater for all our bills, I will do everything and anything… all you gotta do is just move into our house at the space under the stairs.” Lol! Too much?

But in all seriousness: books! Books make me happy. Good books make me glow! I wouldn’t mind getting married in a library for real!

So today, I visited my special space and took a stack of them for the month (they might possibly go all the way into early March).

And since I minimised screen time, it will be a good sport to pass time reading because I have noticed I am finding myself tempted to go online and stream a movie during my free time which I would not like to go back to doing.

For this reason, those special gems are my dates for Valentine’s and the whole of the month of February. And because I am that hopeless romantic, I might throw in some rose petals on my bed and candles for my night time reading. 😂 Ok! Too much!

I am looking forward to an exciting and adventurous month of February and possibly more writing. My sister will also be ecstatic for the books too. She is more a book nerd than I am.

So then, I bid you adieu until the next post God willing!

Happy Valentine’s Day….to you all as you celebrate it in your own unique and special way!

Serving us all a reminder: that above all other types of love, God’s agape love for us is the only love in the entire world that has the ability to fill us with an overflow of joy that is unimaginable, unexplainable, indescribable and unmatched!

♣