Balentime's Day Special

I'm a self-admitted dis'er of all things Valentine's Day.  It's not that I don't like the concept of "love" or that I'm a bitter old cat lady or a man hater.  I just think that Valentine's Day is the perfect picture of how our society is so broken (in addition to the commercial celebration of Christmas and Easter, for that matter).  I would celebrate it happily if Valentine's Day created an opportunity to actually love someone sacrificially.  Instead it's a mandate for waste.  We buy flowers, jewelry, candy, stuffed animals, cookies, cards and the bevy of other Valentine's Day marketed products that we can't afford, don't need and send in bulk.  I myself fall prey to the holiday, buying boxes of Valentine's Day cards for my sons to address and hand out, only to receive a bag full of other cards from their classmates.  Sure, it's a great return on investment for the kids, but think about the herd of parents being shepherded to the "holiday" aisle in their local Target so our kids can all give each other thoughltess cartoon character cards that will be placed in the circular file of life, never to be thought of again.

Photo by Vichie81

We are training our children to be thoughtless.  I am training my children to be thoughtless and wasteful.  Take the socially accepted caricature of Valentines Day, add to it the socially accepted caricature of marriage and it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out why we have such a high divorce rate. 

I know what Love is.  It's a sacrifice and not just a minimal financial one.  It's a choice to be gracious every day.  It's a verb, not some fleeting concept that is synonymous with my hormone levels and emotions.  Love is more thoughtful and more beautiful than a fist full of roses grown and harvested by someone other than yourself for just this occasion.  Love is sweeter than a box full of chocolate squares.

It's unique and special and Valentine's Day, as we celebrate it, has turned it into a product that can be uniformly manufactured on a mass scale and distributed to anyone with a buck in their pocket, but in reality if you want to really show someone you love them, $1 will just not do. 

I believe in Love, I celebrate Love, I express Love, I accept Love, I share Love - and I do all of this all year round. 

If Jesus is the picture of Love, which He is, then how can anyone accept this fake representation of something that is so sacred.

I leave you with this: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."  John 15:13

Today and every day so many single, divorced, abandoned, lonely, hurting and bereaved people will drive home and wish they were loved because the great mistress of Valentine's Day says they are not.  Jesus says that they are and not just that they are loved, but they are loved more than anyone.

You see, I'm not hating on Valentine's Day or anyone that celebrates it, heck, I even wore a dress with pink polka dots on it today.  I cherish love.  But to me, love becomes a prostitute every February 14th and that makes me sad.