Valentine

If you want to get into big trouble forget to ask your significant other to be your valentine accompanied by the traditional Hallmark hype of card, candy and flowers. Who is this Valentine guy and what’s he got to do with me telling my sweetheart that I love her? And is he really a saint or is that just cupid arrow shooting, frilly heart stuff? Well, the answer is that nobody really knows how this all came about. Guesses range from the Christian response to the pagan Roman celebration of Lupercalia (or Wolf Festival) that celebrated fertility, to a priest who defied Emperor Claudius II edict that young men remain single and secretly performed marriages. Reality is nobody knows except that during the ever so romantic Elizabethan period the Valentine business took off and we have been stuck holding heart shaped boxes of candy and flowers ever since.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I think celebrating love, relationship and fanning the fires of romance are noble and worthy causes. I’m just fascinated once again that much of what we do we have no idea why we do it. Well, we know that we do it because that’s the way it’s always been done… we say. But we don’t have a sense of its history or genesis. So, here’s my Valentine challenge… let love always be our tradition (“All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another (John 14:35).”). But in our exchange of love may it never be out of tradition, formal celebration or commercialization… but let it be sincere and passionate! Let love not only reign supreme but let it be the first option, the last stand and the abiding principle by which all that we say and do may rest. If God is love then let us aspire to be like Him. If the cross is the ultimate act of love then let the cross guide us and challenge us to higher heights. And last of all may we never fail to be passionate about the object of our love and keep the romance going.

I’m still going to ask (actually already have) my lovely wife to be my Valentine! We’re ooie gooie like that but it’s because we know how blessed we are to have each other and to be united in our love and our faith that is in the true object of our love… our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Happy Valentine’s Day! -DAN