Love…

“I want to come down and spend the day and night with you,” my older sister Joyce said. She lived in Seattle and knew it would be a difficult day for me. After a six month illness that we thought he would get well from, my husband of forty years, died. We thought and hoped he’d get better, but he didn’t. We said our final goodbye on a Tuesday, one week before that Valentine’s Day.

We chose a small restaurant to celebrate in a little town north of my city for dinner. It was not crowded there and we enjoyed a gourmet dinner complete with chocolate for dessert.

It has been nineteen years since that Valentine’s Day but I won’t forget the love that my sister showed me on that day.

We celebrate Valentine’s Day, but what’s the story around it? The story of Saint Valentine is amazing.  He was martyred for his faith in Christ. You see, the emperor, Claudius II Gothicus demanded that Christians worship pagan idols and statues of deified Emperors. Valentine refused. He was arrested and interrogated by the emperor. The emperor was impressed with Valentine and tried to convert him to paganism to save his life, but Valentine refused and instead, tried to convert Claudius. Because of this, Claudius was offended and arrested him and condemned him to die.

While awaiting his execution, Valentine witnessed to the guards and  other prisoners. One of the jailers asked Valentine to pray for his blind daughter. She miraculously regained her sight and  because of this miracle, the jailer converted to Christianity and was baptized, along with his entire family.

Right before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, encouraging her in the faith, signing it, “from your Valentine.” He was executed on February 14, 269 A.D https://bit.ly/42XJCaq

We’ve come a long way since that day so long ago. The sacrifice of this man is something for us to think about. His life mirrors what Jesus Christ did for us, although Valentine was a man, Jesus was God and man and he was our perfect sacrifice.

We certainly should celebrate this day. Valentine’s story demonstrates how much he believed in his Savior–and the love our Savior, Jesus Christ demonstrates to us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:16-18 NIV).

Many followers of Christ have died for that faith and Valentine was one who believed in the Son and died for that faith. Which circles us back to our celebration of the day. If you have a husband or wife who is still here on earth, show them how much you love them.

If your spouse has died, then reflect on the memories you have with them–good and bad. Perhaps like my sister did nineteen years ago, reach out to someone who is grieving. Take them a gift of yourself or some goodie or card. You may not know how much it means to them, but I can tell you, they will remember your gift.

If you are alone, focus on what love is offered to us. When we believe, we are in the family of God. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (I John 3:1).

As well, focus on that love you once had.

This is a beautiful rendition of how much our Father God loved us.

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