Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you remembered to send your valentine to God this morning. A prayer expressing our love for God, the Savior and Creator, the Almighty One, may be just what your soul needs today. After we give our prayer of love to God, we can also remember our loved ones on this day. The cats got their valentines over the weekend: new water fountain, mouse toys, and separate food dishes to show them the love on this Valentine's Day.
I hope you feel the love at your workplace today. Oh, sorry, you may not have wanted me to go there. In these days of high unemployment, your corporate master may have taken the opportunity to wring every last drop of sweat from you on a regular basis. You may not feel anything but the lash when you arrive for work after the weekend. Oh, wait, did I say weekend? Sorry, you may not even know the meaning of 'weekend' anymore. Some places have done just that to folks all over our country. If you enjoyed a nice weekend away from work, then praise God! If you do feel the love when you go into work today, praise God all the more!
I heard an interesting story about the origin of Valentine's Day on MyBridge this morning. I seem to recall the origin dating back to the 15th Century, but they had a story from the 3rd Century about a Roman priest named Valentine who defied the emperor's order to cease marriage in the army. Apparently the emperor's solution to homesickness in the army was to ban marriage and keep the soldiers in the field until the emperor got tired. Valentine married the young people anyway and eventually went to jail for it. The grateful people brought him notes to express their appreciation and these became known as valentines. On his execution day, Valentine managed to leave a note of love to his wife and the legend that came to us as Valentine's Day was born.
I don't know if the legend is true, but that does make for a great love story for Valentine's Day. Like the story of Paul or Peter, Jonah or Daniel, Moses or Adam, I don't know the stories are true from my own experience. I wasn't there! However, when we choose to believe in Jesus, we get to believe in his word. And God's Word is full of wonderful stories. Some stories are cautionary tales of disobedience and its consequences. Other stories tell of God's great love for us. Of course the greatest love story is Jesus. His birth in Bethlehem and the glorious appearance of the heavenly host are but the start of God's greatest expression of love for us. Soon we will celebrate the culmination of that great love when Jesus went to the cross in our place and rose again on the third day. God said, "I love you!" in a big way; a way that opened the gate of salvation to any who will believe.
From Jesus, we know that God loves us. The command to love one another becomes that much easier when we stand upon the fact of God's love for each of us. Today, we get a special day to express our love one to another, not just in marriage, but in all things. God loves you, and so do I! Have a wonderful and special Valentine's Day.
Bucky
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