Skip to main content

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).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Article: Grace Changes Everything

               A young man broke into a business and did $5000 damage. As part of his Restorative Justice sentence, he was required to meet with my friend Garth.   Garth believes in making apologies and restitution.   It took several months, but Garth finally convinced the young man that these were necessary steps, so he tried to arrange a meeting with the business owner.                The business owner wanted nothing to do with this situation.   He was angry and wanted a more severe form of justice.   Eventually, however, he agreed to meet the young man to hear what he had to say.                  The young man looked the business owner in the eye an...

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    

New Article: Think Abundance Not Scarcity

                 “There are no trees in Saskatchewan!”                I have heard that statement many times, mostly from people who moved to Estevan from places like British Columbia or northern Ontario.   Compared to what they expect, Saskatchewan, and Estevan in particular, seems rather barren.   However, that statement is not true.   More than half the province is covered with trees.   Go up north and there are trees everywhere.                A few months ago, I came across an aerial photo of Estevan from the 1950s.   When I showed it to my girls, the first thing they said was, “Wow, there are no trees in that picture!”   The photo looked odd ...