Valentine's Day Massacre?!

Interesting title for a post, I know... but please just hear me out.

This past Valentine's Day, I recognized many of my friends "celebrating" it in a variety of ways, from cursing the holiday, to complaining about it's commercial nature, to just saying "I hate Valentine's Day" and, my favorite, to calling it "Single's Awareness Day". The reason I have titled this post in such a way is because the true meaning of Valentine's Day has been lost. Destroyed. Massacred.

Why curse the holiday? And why hate it? It's all about love! Who could hate that? Oh yes... I'm sorry. I go to a school where the ratio for girls to guys is 60/40 and so all of the single women are complaining about the lack of guys at school and the single guys are complaining because there are so many girls and they can't seem to find the one for them! Hmmm... so you're single, right? Me too! I consider it the greatest privilege in the world, for there is SO MUCH to be done in this time until (Lord willing) I find God's best for me. Where does cursing the holiday get you except a bad attitude? Do you really want to celebrate such a wonderful holiday with a terrible attitude?

To you who complain about it's "commercial nature", look around you. What HASN'T been tainted by this problem? To complain about Valentine's Day and all the businesses that want to sell stuff is less convincing than the argument for Christmas. But oh wait- all Christmas season all I hear is "remember the REAL meaning of Christmas!" What happened to this saying being repeated on Valentine's Day? And Easter, for that matter? We need to remember that we celebrate this day in part due to one of the early martyrs: Saint Valentine, who was killed because he refused to stop marrying Christian couples when the government forbid it. Saint Valentine sought to glorify and honor the Lord through promoting love, and he was loving both God and the couples he married throughout this process! So HE understood the true meaning of this holiday...

And finally- why call it "Single's Awareness Day". I can see how this would make all of you bachelors and bachelorettes feel better about yourselves, but just like calling Christmas "Xmas", it takes away the true meaning of the day!

Valentine's Day is NOT about seeking love from others, but sharing the love of Christ with those around you. It doesn't matter if you're single, dating, married, whatever! Does the Bible say the First Great commandment is to "be loved by the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength"? And the second- "be loved by your neighbor as you love yourself"? Absolutely Not! We are called to LOVE the Lord and to LOVE our neighbors... where did this get lost?

To clarify: the only reason we are able to love at all is because "God is love" (1 John 4:8) and because He "first loved us" (v. 19). If we try to do it on our own, we'll probably disappoint not only ourselves but also the person we're trying to love. You who go about doing things without the love of God are like "resounding gongs" and "clanging cymbals", and after reading what you all had to say on facebook and other ways, this verse came alive to me! Each day we can rejoice in the love our Father has lavished upon us so that we can spread it to those He has placed around us.

Finally: Galatians 5:14- "The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself." 1 John 4:21- "And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." So by looking at Valentine's Day as a way to receive love from the people around you, you are not wholly following God's command. You are called to "love your neighbor as yourself", regardless of how you're treated.

So while this holiday has just passed, I pray that these words will be stored in your heart for not only next February 14, but for every day that we are privileged to live and breathe on God's earth. If it's a command for every day, then why is Valentine's Day any different? Because we get to CELEBRATE being loved by an Amazing Father and loving those around us for His greatest glory :-). I'm excited! Are you?