A Rosy Glow

All around the world today, people are celebrating love.  Some say it started with the legend of St. Valentine, an early Christian bishop and martyr who was said to have written letters from his prison cell. One version of the tale has it that he converted his gaoler's daughter (I intentionally used the older spelling of "jailer") and wrote her a parting note which he signed, "your Valentine."  In the United States, schoolchildren exchange little notes called "Valentines" and candy or little toys.  Teenagers might go out for ice cream and walk holding hands along the street. It's a day for chocolates, teddy bears, red roses and other sentimental displays of affection.

To me, most of the hype is pretty childish and silly. However, I have many fond childhood memories of this day:

In the morning, I would wake to little heart-shaped notes at my place at the breakfast table.  When I opened them up, I would find a short message from my parents telling me how much they loved me along with some Scripture to remind me of how precious I am to God.  In preschool, we drank pink-colored strawberry-flavored milk in honor of the occasion (they should just call it Red-and-Pink Day).

There were always cookies, some with frosting and sprinkles and heart shapes for lunch at the school cafeteria.  In my classroom, we would prepare little themed notes and tuck them into a pouch for each of our classmates along with some chocolates or a fun game. Disney characters and popular cartoons abounded on our Valentine notes with cheesy messages that came in a box we could buy at the grocery store in a set that had enough for the class, including a special note for the teacher. Usually, I would return to my desk after distribution to find piles of chocolate M&Ms, Dove chocolates, and other red-themed candies.  Sometimes there would be a puzzle or word search when I unfolded the notes. One year I got a little stuffed alien doll with a big metallic heart on his purple tummy, the most unusual Valentine's gift.  In high school, you could pay 50 cents to buy a singing telegram and candy for someone you liked, or for a good friend.

There was one special friend that I will always remember, however, who never forgot me on Valentine's Day.  We weren't in the same grade, so it was that much nicer that he would bring me chocolates and a tiny stuffed bear or some other trinket every year on February 14th. He was a sweet little boy, and the year I remember most was my 5th grade year, because I had gone to science camp that week and was not expecting to be there on Valentine's Day. Interestingly enough, it snowed so hard that we had to be evacuated and were brought home the night after we arrived at camp. The next day, I went to school, and there was my little friend waiting with a big chocolate heart. I was so touched that he remembered and prepared something for me even though I would have been away at camp had it not been for the snowfall.

It's the thought that counts, after all. Those external things, the little gifts, are just ways of showing how much we care about someone, not by the price tag, but by the fact that we were thinking of them.

Think about it. God sends us "Valentines" every day - in the loving friends and family that surround us, in the stranger that smiles at us on the street, in a butterfly swooping over the back gate, in the sun shining in the sky; He sends rain for the crops, food for the hungry, solace for those who are anxious.  God is Love, and His love flows down through us to one another, bringing us together.  Today, I'm grateful for all the love in my life, and I know Who to thank, because life is too short to die without having loved.