Ok- so if you are like me you really don't like Valentine's Day... sometimes it feels like you are treated specially because of the day... why don't we treat the ones we love more specially all of the time instead of only on say- Valentine's day and an anniversary. Don't get me wrong- I absolutely love giving the cute little kids valentine's with the fun animated movie characters saying different love and friendship quotes. But typically my response has been to mope and complain about how stupid it is and get on my soapbox about how buying flowers is dumb because you are taking something that looks so beautiful growing and living and then you cut it off from its source of life to put in a vase where it will look nice a few days and then slowly start to rot, decay and stink. The water then looks disgusting and makes you feel queasy just looking at it. It does not seem appealing to me... why not get a gift of a flowering plant that you've grown all year for them... something that will continue to bring joy! I dunno... anyway...
I decided to do a little digging... I 'stumbledupon' an article last year that explained that the how real meaning of Valentine's Day is completely different from what we celebrate it as now. To jog my memory I googled it just to be sure- and initially the day was a Christian holiday meant to honor two or three different martyrs named Valentine! I thought this was cool because it is actually a day that truly celebrates love- the love that these men had to give their lives, and the love that they understood- true love that can only come from Christ. I am all for a day that celebrates that love and all the people who gave the ultimate sacrifice to share it with others.
It has really challenged me- and hopefully all you Valentine's haters... to make the day something special. A day where even though a lot of other people settle for a fake and cheesy imitation- to go beyond that and celebrate true love. I want to try and write a card telling people who are important in my life how much i really do appreciate them and focus on that instead of the 'sexy date' love that media throws our way.
