Post Valentine's Day Post

I admit, the day after Valentine’s Day isn’t your typical time to post a blog about it. But if you’ve read this blog at all, you know that I don’t have a high regard for the way us in the west, particularly America commercialize anything and everything that might make a dollar. So what’s the point today you ask?

I would imagine that there is a large percentage of the American population today that is actually glad it’s the day after Valentine’s Day. For them, it’s simply a reminder that there isn’t presently someone to love in their life right now. I mean, isn’t that the hype? “Get ‘this or that’ for the ‘someone special’ in your life.” You know, chocolate, diamonds, flowers, lingerie, teddy bears, etc., etc. What does any of that really have to do with love anyway? Most of what we express as love is totally selfish anyway. A couple examples: “I love_____because they make me feel good”, or, “they accept me for who I am”. There is a payoff implied for the one who loves and it comes at the expense of the one loved. Hardly a romantic picture, huh?

Consider the origin of love. The Creator God makes man and woman and causes in their hearts a feeling of longing and caring for one another; a pure desire to simply share the moments of life and give themselves to each other unselfishly. Along the way, things get fuzzy, man and woman get selfish and start demanding of one another, and questioning their Creator to the point of doing things that break one another’s trust as well as God’s. The relationship(s) are so broken now and far removed from their original intent that God, out of pure love, takes drastic action: sends His own Son to take all responsibility for all the brokenness. Why? So that the relationships can be restored. It’s that simple, there is no payoff for the One loving, or no debt owed by the one loved. That’s real love, and we would do good to strive for that in our relationships.

I’m not a holiday Scrooge, really. I’m all for the celebration and the remembering of good things and good times. But I don’t consider the buying of affection, or being made to feel guilty or left out because I don’t participate a good time. It’s simple consumerism at the expense of love in this case.

Love is so simple, yet because of our selfishness, so hard to do. Here’s a broad-brush statement, but one I mean with all sincerity because I know God: I love each of you even when I don’t know you. You are invaluable to this spinning mass in space we occupy and your worth is untold. Because God loves you, so do I.

And just think, you didn’t even have to buy me chocolates or lingerie to hear that! Now, all together….Thank God!!!


Peace……