Hearts on Valentine's

Valentine's has come and gone...and we're now detoxing. No sugar today! (Except for the wonderful cinnamon bread from Sharon Plummer...YUM!)
Last night, my husband had the most wonderful evening planned. He planned to take me to dinner (wherever I wanted to go...which turned out to be a great little Mexican place called Mi Pueblitos), and then he was taking me to see "Mousetrap"! The significance of this is that our very first Valentine's as Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt was dinner and a showing of "Mousetrap". The night sounded so romantic and sentimental...
Well, Phoenix ran a fever throughout the day and wanted nothing more than to sit in my lap and moan. I just couldn't leave him with a babysitter being that sick. Mark completely understood and we salvaged what we could of the evening by eating take-out from Doc's Grill and watching "Disney's The Kid" on T.V. It wasn't hearts and candles, but it was warm, comfortable and sweet...what more could a wife and mommy ask for? Besides, as I assured Mark, it's truly the thought that counts. The fact that he had planned such a romantic evening and then was willing to abruptly change plans to suit a sick child...well, there's nothing more romantic than that.
It made me realize that when God is searching my heart, He is pleased more by my desire than my action. If Mark had taken me to dinner, but done it begrudgingly, it wouldn't have been romantic at all. When I serve God, if I did with a grumbling heart, it does not please Him. If I long to serve Him and seem to never be able to do enough, He is more than pleased.
When my kids make something for me and it's just pitifully ugly, colors don't match, glue is oozing out everywhere, there's more glitter in the hair than the paper, do I say, "Gross! I don't want that!"?
No, indeed! Because I know that in their hearts, they desired nothing more than to make me this wonderful gift and give it to me...to make me proud of them. God is the same way with us. Things don't have to be perfect in our lives for God to be proud of us. He is proud of us for our attempts...if they are attempts with good hearts. Mark doesn't have to give me flowers and candy (or that new computer game I've been wanting!) for me to know that he loves me. Just the fact that he spends time and energy trying to please me says all I need to hear.
I'm rambling. I'm about to change my mind and delete this entire post, so I'm going to hit "Save" very quickly now. Thoughts matter!