Skip to main content

Do You Know What You Have?



Someone out there may be struggling with this holiday called Valentine's Day, and I can relate. This is my third Valentine's Day without my Norman. He was a traditional "flowers and chocolates" giver, and I gave him his faves: Raisinettes and salt and pepper pistachios. 

I am learning to look at these "couple's holidays" through new lenses.

Anyone can be a "Valentine," which is a beloved person. I am laboring not to mope about the absence of my husband, but I do wonder sometimes if people know how rich their lives are with the presence of people.

If you have living parents, they are your Valentines. Do you appreciate what they mean in your life? 

If you have siblings, they are your Valentines. Are you loving them or bickering with them?

If you have children, do you remind yourself that "the fruit of the womb is his reward," or are you allowing too much negativity to spoil those relationships?

If you have extended family members, your life is full of Valentines. Does someone need a call?

If you have friends, you are a rich person with a treasure trove of Valentines. Could you surprise a friend with something unexpected?

If you are dating, engaged, or married, this holiday is really about you. For some of us, this holiday reminds us of the person we're missing. 

Do you know what you have, or are you living like your loved ones are always going to be there? When we have people in our lives who love us, we are immensely blessed. It's so easy to take their presence for granted, but don't do it. Every living soul has numbered days. You may not have your Valentine in your life this time next year.

It's common for people tend to get into arguments or disagreements on idealistic days like this. It happens. Whether we wake up grumpy from a poor night's sleep or we just had a round of tense words, sometimes a holiday can get spoiled by a rotten spirit.

Don't let anything spoil your time with the people you love. Truly cherish one another. Here's what you have: amazingly precious people in your life.

Love one another...on Valentine's Day and beyond.

"For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." (1 John 3:11)






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Parents Are Not Responsible for That

Parenthood is not a role for wimps or whiners. There are the exciting times such as music recitals, sports tournaments, and graduations. But if your tribe is like ours, you've probably also had the maddening moments, like the time one of our children discovered how to unfasten the tapes on his diaper and used the contents as "chalk" on the bedroom  wall (yes, it was "his," so that narrows the field of suspects). Children are young for a few blinks, and then we spin around and we're hearing "Pomp and Circumstance," that familiar graduation march as our "babies" walk down the aisle in cap and gown. If they choose to go on to college, four snaps later, we're sitting in the auditorium at their college graduation, scanning a long list of names in the commencement bulletin while waiting to watch them walk across the platform to receive yet another diploma. It's warp-speed fast (except that diaper stage). Parents don't min...

Why Abishag and Not Bathsheba?

When you read Bible stories, do you ever wonder about things? I often wonder, and one story on my "wonder list" is the account of the aged King David and his lovely young caregiver named Abishag. David already had plenty of wives, including one very beautiful stolen wife named Bathsheba. When David was struggling to stay warm (Scripture says "he got no heat"), why didn't he call for Bathsheba? I wonder...and I'm going to hazard a guess that they had grown apart over the years. I can't prove it, but it can't be conclusively denied, either. Here's the Scriptural account, to refresh your memory: "Now kind David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fa...

Wait-Hate

Sitting at what I was sure was the world's longest left-turn signal, I suddenly realized that I was being impatient for no good reason. After all, I was only waiting to turn left and then right...into the gas station. Not exactly like being late for an important date! Wait hate. Many of us struggle with it, and the impatience is making life unnecessarily miserable. Why do we hate to wait? I have some theories and good guesses, but it is possible that one of the biggest reasons why we can't even tolerate driving in a lane with a slow car in front of us is because we've been trained by our culture to expect everything instantly. Have you ever been "that person," driving and yelling "Move over, Pokey Joe!" even though your windows were closed and that other driver couldn't hear you? Tap. Swipe. Send.  Wait-Hate is learned, and this impatience is very costly. Instead of praying and allowing God time to provide direction and confirm...