A long time ago during this time of the year, someone must have been bored and decided that the year needed another holiday. Something to look forward to during the long months after Christmas and before spring. One day that requires weeks if not months of planning for some people, and a time for stores to stock pink and red merchandise. And so Valentine's Day was born.
While it actually has its roots in an old Roman holiday, Valentine's Day has since been modernized and is widely known as the love holiday. It's one day in February when people celebrate the relationships that they're in, bemoan the fact that they're not in a relationship, or spend the day burning gifts they got from ex-significant others in an effort to purify their love lives. It's a whole day based on love or the lack thereof and the only time when couples can act completely ridiculous around their friends without scaring them. As a whole, the holiday is rather silly and a lot of people don't like it. I personally think it's really cute.
I've heard every side of Valentine's Day. "My boyfriend and I are doing so well and Valentine's Day only makes our relationship better," or "We use Valentine's Day to recommit to each other," or "Valentine's Day is terrible for anyone who doesn't have a date," or, finally, "Valentine's Day it just outright awful, and I'm looking forward to buying discount chocolate on February 15." Everybody has something to say about February 14, but with all these opinions flying around, I noticed that one was missing. There's one more side to Valentine's Day that everybody forgets about.
Why do we have to wait for a certain day to fall head over heels in love with someone? We should, in fact, be this love-happy all year round. Why is this? If you are a Christian, you know that we are loved all year round, 24/7, by a God who, once upon a time, fell head over heels for us. A God who loves us so much that he sent the person most dear to him down to earth to retrieve a people who didn't know him. That sounds like true love to me. So, if we are loved by such a great God at every moment, why shouldn't we share that love with other people just as much? We really don't have to wait for Valentine's Day to share the love; in fact we, as Christians, should spread so much love during the rest of the year that Valentine's Day is an afterthought.
So this Valentine's Day, whether you have someone to spend it with or not, let's all share God's love with someone else and make this day even better. And, on top of that, if you think about it, you don't have to be lonely on February 14 because you've always got a Valentine's Day date. God is with you all the time and wants to share the love.
Photo Credit: Challenging the zeitgeist
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