Saturday, February 07, 2009
Preparation for Valentine's Day
Like taking a vacation or dressing for a black tie affair, Valentine’s day requires some preparation. The aisles at Walmart® fairly brim with red heart shaped boxes and dozens of flowers. The card aisle showcases hundreds of flashy cards. Advertisements tempt us to order everything from diamonds to new cars to fulfill our sweetheart’s wishes and dreams. The hype of Valentine’s day lies far from the true preparations you and I must make for this special day. True preparations belong in the two places that mean the most, the heart and life.
Many legends surround the name Valentine. The one I remember the best follows. Valentine, a Christian in the city of Rome delighted in his family, friends and others of faith. The emperor started a persecution of Christians that netted Valentine into prison for his faith. His loneliness for his family and friends grew so heavy in his heart that he devised a plan to send his love to them from prison. He used leaves from plants growing into the prison windows and a small stick to write letters of love by poking small holes in the leaves. He then used doves or pigeons to deliver those love messages to his family and friends. This makes a fanciful story but provides good lessons for us today as we prepare for Valentine’s day.
When the persecution removed all else from him, Valentine found the important things of life. Family, friends, loved ones comprise the most valuable and precious of gifts to us. People and our relationships with them embody the very essence of value in our lives. What good comes from working all those extra hours to find success or to gain money? One day given to loving someone, warming her heart outshines all the business deals, the shiny cars, the lustrous diamonds money can buy.
Whether we love someone now or will in the future, Valentine’s day preparation begins today. Today prepare your heart to give the real you to your loved one. Today prepare your life to cherish each moment of the day with that person as if it were your last moment with them. We each possess two things that when given to our loved one expresses the most precious of gifts. Time, we each possess a limited supply. When we chose to spend those hours and days with that special person, we say ‘I love you’ with our most precious commodity. The person who exists under the masks we wear, given to that loved one says ‘all that I am, all that I will ever be, I give to you my dear friend, the person I love’. What two more precious things could anyone give than your time and yourself? There exist no other gifts so precious and valuable.
The beauty of today beacons me to prepare my heart and life for Valentine’s day. I shall let the sun fall on my face, let the wind ruffle my hair and let myself fill with caring, love and openness for the special ones in my life. Please do not make an excuse my friend. Go and prepare yourself for giving the rest of your life to those special people. True love demands we both give and receive in this exchange of life. As for me, I choose to prepare to give, I choose to prepare to love.
Happy Valentine’s day! Use your time and self wisely.
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Many legends surround the name Valentine. The one I remember the best follows. Valentine, a Christian in the city of Rome delighted in his family, friends and others of faith. The emperor started a persecution of Christians that netted Valentine into prison for his faith. His loneliness for his family and friends grew so heavy in his heart that he devised a plan to send his love to them from prison. He used leaves from plants growing into the prison windows and a small stick to write letters of love by poking small holes in the leaves. He then used doves or pigeons to deliver those love messages to his family and friends. This makes a fanciful story but provides good lessons for us today as we prepare for Valentine’s day.
When the persecution removed all else from him, Valentine found the important things of life. Family, friends, loved ones comprise the most valuable and precious of gifts to us. People and our relationships with them embody the very essence of value in our lives. What good comes from working all those extra hours to find success or to gain money? One day given to loving someone, warming her heart outshines all the business deals, the shiny cars, the lustrous diamonds money can buy.
Whether we love someone now or will in the future, Valentine’s day preparation begins today. Today prepare your heart to give the real you to your loved one. Today prepare your life to cherish each moment of the day with that person as if it were your last moment with them. We each possess two things that when given to our loved one expresses the most precious of gifts. Time, we each possess a limited supply. When we chose to spend those hours and days with that special person, we say ‘I love you’ with our most precious commodity. The person who exists under the masks we wear, given to that loved one says ‘all that I am, all that I will ever be, I give to you my dear friend, the person I love’. What two more precious things could anyone give than your time and yourself? There exist no other gifts so precious and valuable.
The beauty of today beacons me to prepare my heart and life for Valentine’s day. I shall let the sun fall on my face, let the wind ruffle my hair and let myself fill with caring, love and openness for the special ones in my life. Please do not make an excuse my friend. Go and prepare yourself for giving the rest of your life to those special people. True love demands we both give and receive in this exchange of life. As for me, I choose to prepare to give, I choose to prepare to love.
Happy Valentine’s day! Use your time and self wisely.
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