Valentines Day - Every Day

Valentine's Day has never been my favorite holiday. The premise is wonderful, a holiday celebrating romantic love - what could be better?

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Hallmark beckons to us. Florists flaunt their wares. Candy shops fill their store windows with red, heart shaped chocolate boxes. Love is not only in the air, it's everywhere.

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Please don't think I'm jaded, I'm not. I love beautiful cards, flowers and chocolate as much as the next girl. I'm just saying that just as we should not isolate our celebration of love to just one day, we need to look for love in ordinary days, too.

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When my husband cooks supper because I've had a long day at work - that's love!

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When he volunteers to pick up our daughter from a late night band competition - that's love!

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When he gives me a kiss in the middle of the grocery store - that's love!

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When he lends and understanding ear - that's love!

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I'm sure we will be exchanging cards and celebrating Valentines Day on a small scale this year, but we will be celebrating love every day! I think I'll end by sharing what the Bible has to say on the subject:

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1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Love
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.