Valentine's day is one of those holidays beloved by some and despised by others. Typically if you're in an exclusive relationship with another person valentine's day takes on a heightened meaning and signifigance in your life, and often times you're literally willing to move heaven and earth to make it special. If you're not in a relationship with someone special, you're literally willing to move heaven and earth to avoid the day all together!
I began reflecting on this recently as my four year old daughter was preparing valentines for her pre-school Valentine's day party. She just HAD to make her own, and each one HAD to be special. This made for several long card making sessions for her and my wife, and a lot of work! After completing the final card and sending our daughter to bed, I remarked to my wife that next year we were going to buy the pre-made cards. I then proceeded to point out how much smarter we adults are in making Valentine's day only about one special person, instead of a whole class of special friends.
This whole conversation got me thinking about the main topic of Valentine's day, namely love, and if as I had assumed, we adults really had it all figured out. I started in 1 Corinthians 13 , also known as the love chapter. This particular chapter is quite famous and very popular, especially at weddings. A closer examination will show that while the subject matter of the passage is describing what love should ideally look like, it is not in fact describing love shared between two lovers, but rather the love that should exist between members of a Christian community (a congregation of people). I then turned to some of Jesus more prominent teaching about love, found in Luke 6:27-36, where Jesus asserts that love should not only be reserved for lovers or even just friends, but that we should love enemies as well!
All of a sudden my thinking that my four year old was so foolish for making all those cards, and that I was so wise for only worrying about my wife, was being turned on its head. Maybe its those pre-schoolers who really have Valentine's Day and love all figured out, and it's the adults who are crazy? My point is not that we should throw out Valentine's Day, or not celebrate those special people in our lives, but rather that we should also remember to show our love others as well.
"Love bears all things, beleives all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails"
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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