February 15

Happy Valentine’s Day, God loves you!

As we slip past another Valentine’s Day, I again reflect that this holiday is a consumer contrivance to sell chocolates, cards, flowers and helium balloons.  It is a holiday that, IMHO ranks right up there with “Sweetest Day,” “Mother-in-Law Day,” and “National Safe Boating Day” as genuinely unnecessary.  After all, even the Catholic Church no longer recognizes the feast day of Saint Valentine, from which the holiday was originally derived.  That said, I will admit that I have succumbed, or perhaps, wisely invested in a Valentine’s Day card for my spouse (whom I dearly love) but still I resent the ‘scheduled’ nature of this holiday.  

For love, as we know, follows no set schedule; it happens when it happens, and when it does, it is a gift that is given freely.  As Jesus’ life, death and resurrection demonstrated, love in all its many forms is an act of courage, of trust, and of forgiveness.  Love requires strength to give, and it requires strength to accept, and it certainly does not conform to any calendar.  I don’t require a card-store infused holiday to remind me of how very blessed I am to have the love of my wife and my family, but I do need to continually seek God’s help to guide me in those relationships.  Each and every day, I thank God for my family, for their love and I pray for the courage to model and to share His love for me with others.