All You Need Is Love

Sometimes, special days like Valentine's just kind of come and go. Between the box making, valentine signing and cookie baking, the day seems to slip too quickly into yesterday...like a perfect chocolate heart popped in the mouth and melted away.

We did lots this Valentine's Day and more, but for some reason, I had a revelation this year. Maybe just a moment of mental clarity. Whatever it was, it seemed to make all the little things more meaningful. It was like I had just had lasik surgery; the world was so clear.

I started really thinking. About the day. About Love. And it came to me that God is Love. Why it never really hit me like this I don't know. But Valentine's Day should be a day about Him. A day about Jesus, who is LOVE.

So, making a Valentine's box with Luke (a very cool, rolling, blue car box), become an act of love for my son, not something that took up the only extra 30 minutes I had in my evening. And getting those Valentine's signed and stapled and licked and bagged and organized, while tiring, became too a little prayer, for each tiny name printed. I'm not saying I didn't get tired, cuz I did. But it just felt different this year.

And let me tell you what happened next....I looked into the eyes of my Granny and I saw the Love of God there. I saw 97 Valentine's Days shining through. And when she handed the red, pink and white, heart-covered quilt over to Hallie (yeah for Hallie - she won the drawing! Boo for us - we didn't win it!), I saw that her EVERY DAY is the kind of day I had this Valentine's. For her body surely gets more tired and pained than mine. Her heart is surely weary of the cares of this world. But she sews one stitch after another because God loves her and she loves Him and she does it as an act of love for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Simple stuff, I know. But it meant something to me.

Oh, and one more thing.... with Tom being out of town on Valentine's Day, I amazingly did not even feel sorry for myself, not one little bit. And then, that night, when I went to bed, there on my pillow, was a sealed, red envelope, just for me. And then the next morning, a purple one, on the magazine rack. And you're not going to believe this: but later that day, another one, a white one, tucked away in a drawer. Not bragging, just thankful for Love this year.