True and pure love is a God-given and a God-ordained gift intended by Him to reach beyond the confines of our mortal experience. But as with most of God’s greatest gifts, it must be sought for. In 1964, Spencer Kimball shared the following story.

“So long as you both shall live.” John and Mary heard this as they were married in a civil ceremony in their Bishop’s home. Relatives and friends exclaimed, “What a handsome promising couple!”

At the time, John and Mary had a knowledge that there was something greater, but they had time. Well, time passed. John became involved in community affairs. Mary grew more lovely as the responsibilities of a wife and mother enlarged her soul. Her love for John grew over time, and she began to realize that she wanted him – forever. But John said he was not religiously inclined, “Some day …”

One day on a canyon picnic, a drunk driver hit their car reducing both cars to junk, and leaving Mary and her precious daughter Alice mangled and lifeless. When John buried his two loved ones, it seemed as though a part of him was buried with them. Loneliness, emptiness, and pain overtook him. His days seemed so barren. No one knew how much he suffered – with those vacant places at his table. And though he threw himself into his work and his other children, still there was no respite. His first and last conscious thoughts each day were of his beloved Mary.

Then, one night there came a dream so vivid and so real, he would never forget it. He found himself in an unfamiliar world looking through a wide heavy open gate into a beautiful area in which the central figures were a woman and a little girl. A warm glow rose within him as he recognized Mary and Alice. Mary was more lovely than ever; her charm and beauty had been accentuated. She was heavenly and captivating.

They smiled and beckoned to him to join them, but John found himself unable to move. Then, it seemed imperceptible at first as though the huge gates began to close. Frantically, John tried to free himself and go to them, but he couldn’t – he couldn’t move. As the opening grew smaller and smaller, the look on Mary and Alice’s face became more anguished. They beckoned to him more earnestly. Oh, they wanted him to join them, and he wanted to join them, but he was powerless to move.

The doors were closing. He saw the look of terror register on Mary’s face as the door slowly closed. The click of the lock resounded like thunder in his sensitive ears, and he felt at that moment that he would give anything, everything, even life itself to see her again, to be with her again, to have her always with him.

The alarm clanged and John awoke. He was back in his world. “Ah!” he thought in relief. “It was only a dream!” And then it struck him, “or was it?”

Happy Valentine’s Day.