How do you measure love? I read about one such effort based on Tweets.
It “collected a sample of geotagged tweets posted in countries and cities all over the world … then analyzed that sample to find tweets that contained variations of the phrase ‘love you,’ for example, ‘love u’ and ‘<3 you,’ and variations of the heart emoji followed by ‘u’ and ‘you.”*
Okay, here are the results.
The most loving country is Guatemala, counting 2,217 loving tweets per 100,000. Cochabamba, Bolivia, is the most loving city in the world (with 2,878 loving tweets per 100k). In the U.S., the most loving state is West Virginia (613 loving tweets per 100k), and El Paso, Texas, is the most loving city (521 loving tweets per 100k).
There are some sensible explanations to these winners.
Many Latino countries scored high in the research, indicating the significance of relationships and family in this beautiful and emotional culture. This likely influences El Paso as well. Marriages in West Virginia last longer than any other state in the U.S.
So how will you measure love on this Valentine’s Day?
If your country or city is not on the list of most loving, is it time to move? Is there hope? If your marriage feels loveless, if your kids act like they don’t love each other, if your love for your kids is too often sabotaged by anger or impatience, if your love for God has taken a backseat to busyness, if on most days you honestly don’t feel very loved—how can you celebrate today with the glow of love in your heart?
Because God measures love even more accurately than Tweet statistics of people’s expressions. What counts for you being loved, for you loving others, for you living in a home built around love and leading a life with the purpose of love is how God measures that love. Here it is:
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:9-11).
God’s love is more than a feeling, it’s an action. A historical, documented, actual moment like a young man proposing to his girlfriend. It happened!
Just as real is your love for others—even those you don’t like, those difficult to love, those where love has been broken, and your enemies. With the power and promise of God, you are loved and you are able to love.
PRAYER: I love how you measure love, God. Your love at the cross, your love in Jesus Christ, your love that forgives and by faith makes me your friend. That’s the measure of love. It’s so real and consistent! Thank you for loving me. Move my heart to love others better. Amen.
EVANGELISM ACTION: Send this as a Valentine’s Day greeting to a friend, an enemy, or someone in a loving relationship with you that needs more God.