It's that time of year again! And if February 14th hasn't proven to be your favorite holiday over the years, it may be time to start looking at it from a different perspective. There's a lot of people who just love Valentine's Day and there's a lot of people who can't stand Valentine's Day. Granted, the specific people who love and hate it tend to change periodically depending on whether or not people actually have someone they prefer to call their Valentine that year.
So maybe in that regard Valentine's Day does seem like a superficial holiday celebrating the have's and shunning the have-not's (of a Valentine that is). But maybe we don't have to be either giddy with glee or miserable and lonely on Valentine's Day...
Personally, I've always loved Valentine's Day. For me the fondest memories were those of grade school Valentine's parties, filled with heart-shaped candies and little mailboxes made from shoe-boxes and covered in red construction paper. Mine usually incorporated detailed Disney princess sticker scenes and arrays of fuzzy baby animal cut-outs, but I digress. :)
The best part of the party was when you got to go around and slip your carefully crafted and expertly signed Valentines into each person's box. I remember having selected the perfect Valentine for each of my classmates (usually picking out princesses for the girls and Scooby-Doo for the boys), and spending hours taping on candy and writing their names in pink gel pen. So it felt so good when I finally got to give those Valentines to my friends. Of course opening the Valentines I received was always great fun too, and I felt very happy and cared about and loved.
Now, nearly ten years after those kiddie Valentine's parties, I'm still making and handing out Valentines. This year, as I was looking for a box of Valentines in the seasonal aisle at Target, a little boy also scanned the shelves, looking for the perfect Valentines. When he finally spotted them, he scooped them up in his short little arms and shouted out to his mother who was standing behind him, "Cool! Look Mom, these Superhero ones are for the boys and these kitty ones are for the girls!".
I smiled and laughed quietly to myself, remembering the excitement of those childhood Valentine's Days. For me, its not so much about whether I have a particular person to call my Valentine, but about showing the people in my life that I care about them. Of course there are innumerable more mature ways to show people you care, but I believe one of the most loving things you can do for a person is give them something you created especially for them. A Valentine is not given to be some incredible gift or make a lot of commotion. It's just a little something to show you care, and that's just it: showing you care.
And this year, I have been blessed with some really wonderful people that God's brought into my life unexpectedly. I am so thankful to call them my friends, and even if a Valentine cannot express how very much they mean to me, at least they will know I care about them and love them enough to take a little time and a little thought to show it.
As Paul says in Colossians 3:14, "Love is more important than anything else...it is what ties everything completely together". God's love is the biggest, bestest, most beautiful love we could ever receive; the only kind of love that will ever provide us with real, ultimate fulfillment. And to share even just a little of that love we've received with another person is to tie a tiny knot that connects me to you and us to everyone and all to God.
So whether you enjoy all the American Valentine's Day traditions or not, just take today to say something kind to someone or tell them you care or even give them a little Valentine that says I love you (if you feel so creatively inclined :) ). Because love is what's holding us all together and its just a Jesus-like thing to do to share a little love everyday.
