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Defending Valentine’s Day

It may just be the “Cinnamon hearts” talking (I am eating a handful as I type this), but I have to say that I like Valentine’s Day!

Now, before you flood my inbox with emails stating how Valentine’s Day is just a fake holiday made up by the card companies to force us to spend money needlessly on a bunch of junk that we did not want or need, let me assure you: I get that part. If you want to point out that one should cherish their loved ones every day of the year and not just when some day in February tells them to, “check!” Some will say that Valentine’s Day is nothing more than commercialism to the extreme where the only valid way to express your love for someone is to buy them something. If you think it is bad for that reason, I am with you there.

However, I still think that Valentine’s Day is valuable simply because it reminds us to do what we know should be doing.

It is a fact of life that many good things are taken for granted simply because they are around us all the time. I often think about how much I love my family, how proud I am of my girls, or how thankful I am for all that my wife does to make life better for us. The fact is, though, as much as I may think those things, I rarely share them. Valentine’s Day is one of the days in the year when I am reminded that I have something important to say and some very important people to say it to. I appreciate the “push” that this time of year gives me.

I hope that Valentine’s Day is not the only day that you show people that you love them, but it (like any other day) is a good time to start.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

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