Happy Valentine's Day

We don't really "celebrate" Valentine's Day around here; honestly, I just see it as another way for stores to get our money and to commercialize yet another aspect of life that doesn't need so much commercializing. Does Valentine's Day even stand for love anymore? Or is it really just a day of attempting to meet expectations or trying to erase the feeling that everyone but you has "someone special" or even worse, an excuse to buy candy?? I just have a problem with all of that. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with Valentine's Day; in fact, I think it is a good day to remind us what love really is. I just have a problem with what our society has made of it.

The Bible says a lot about love. Out of curiousity, I did a quick search and the word is mentioned 500 times in the New King James version. That's a lot; it must be important. The verse that comes quickest to mind for me though is this one:

I Corinthians 13:13

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

God said those words. He said that love is the greatest. But how often do we use that word to relay a simple meaning such as "I love pancakes" or "I love that book" or "I love dark chocolate hearts with caramel filling with a little sea salt sprinkled on top"? What??? You've never said that? Well, admittedly I have overused the word and you've probably said something similar, if you're being honest. But in all reality does that compare to this:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Do I love pancakes so much that I would die for them? Um, no. I may like them a LOT (and crave them constantly, even when I'm not pregnant and eat way too many of them when I do eat them) but my "love" for pancakes is nowhere close to the love that God has for each one of us. When God talks about love, it's highly significant. I've never read a verse where he talks about loving inanimate objects; he loves people. He even talks about loving our enemies, which is a bold step for most of us. That's not an easy one. 

I guess this may come across has sounding kind of "bah humbugish" and perhaps like I have something against Valentine's Day but I don't really intend it to be that way. I do get fed up with the way we tend to let commercialization run our lives sometimes (that may be one reason that Thanksgiving becomes my new favorite holiday...stores haven't yet figured out a way to convince us to start swapping gifts that day). But maybe more than anything this day should just serve as a reminder that LOVE is the greatest. This day, instead of bringing us down as it may for some or making us feel that we have to do something to stay out of the ubiquitous doghouse, instead, can re-focus us on the One that loves us so much that he actually gave His son to die in our place. And it can remind us to love those around us on a daily basis, whether in big ways or simple small ways. AND it can remind us that love is not reserved only for those that are easy to love, it is also necessary and required to love on those people that make it difficult.

So Happy Valentine's Day! I do hope that today is special for each and every one of you but not because you got great chocolates or really pretty roses, but because you chose to love in a different way, in a way that God intended.

I John 4:7-11, 20-21

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

(In full disclosure, I spent some money this year on cards and candy. I'm not sorry I bought that stuff but I am sorry that I did it only because it was Valentine's Day. This year, Valentine's Day for me IS a reminder that every day should be treated special so this sort of jumpstarted a new beginning.

Also I want to add that I know that some people really enjoy getting gifts and it means just as much to them as spending time with those I love means to me. Everyone has their "love language" and I respect that. There is nothing wrong with gifts; it's just the intentions or the reason behind the gift giving that started this post.)