I was thinking about Valentine’s Day and what it means. Of course the first thing I thought of was love. Which led me to think of the love chapter in the Bible, I Corinthians 13. But these two loves that are celebrated are vastly different.
The way love is celebrated on Valentines is actually a little more like lust, in my opinion. It is more about our selfish wants and expectations than it is about true love. First Corinthians 13 speaks of unconditional love. Valentine’s Day is a day to make your sweetheart feel special and feel loved. And I do think it is a fun holiday and a fun way to remind us to actually show someone how we feel. But what happens if someone messes up or forget that special someone? Is there forgiveness? is there unconditional love on the other side?
My love language is definitely gifts and my husband’s love language is not gifts and he really stinks at this. It is not unusual for me to be told on a special day like Valentine’s Day or Christmas that my gift is still on the way or that he didn’t get it ordered in time and then I am asked, “it doesn’t really matter if I don’t have a card does it?” And this year on Valentine’s Day it was not so different. And this time I even told him about 5 or 6 days ahead of time the store he can go to here in town and exactly what he could get me. Now, I do love my husband and I am not trying to make him look bad because he’s a wonderful man. But when this happens it does give me a test-am I still going to show him that I love him? Is my love unconditional or is it based on whether or not he loves me the way I think he should-especially on Valentine’s Day?
Unconditional love is a very challenging concept. It is not one of those things you can just talk about and assume that you’re going to be able to do it. It is very challenging to love someone despite their actions. I find this is true not only of my husband but even of my children. Not that I don’t love them when they do wrong, but shouldn’t love look a certain way? Does yelling at my children look like love? Does fighting with my spouse look like love? Does getting angry with someone when they don’t make the choice that you want them to make look like love? So this Valentine’s Day I propose that we all love unconditionally despite disappointment And heart ache. And if you didn’t get the box of chocolates that you wanted, go buy some yourself for heaven sake. That’s what I did.
****Just to let you all know-my fabulous husband came through for me. I just received (at 5:00p.m.) a gift bag from jake witzel Gifts and Interiors that contained two dozen fudge covered strawberries, a Vera Bradley Carry It All Wristlet and a jar of Fluffy Bunny Shea Butter body butter. He’s a keeper!
it is what it is (and what YOU make of it!) 