Make Sure to Spread the Love:

Some of you reading may know my favorite holiday is Valentine’s Day.  I love it! I start celebrating and decorating and preparing for Valentine’s Day weeks beforehand.  My office is completely decorated in handmade hearts and positive notes.  I work making valentines and the presents I can give to others to hopefully make them feel loved on Valentine’s day.  Then delivering or sending them in the mail is my absolute favorite part.  The night before I am very busy making my treats I can bring to work and putting the bags or the presents together I can present to my friends.  

My love for Valentine’s Day started at a young age.  My mom would give me sweet little gifts to celebrate the day.  They were probably not the extravagant gifts she put a lot of time into like she would with my birthday or Christmas.  They were probably not the gift she thought would stand out to a young girl.  But, one year she gave me a little ladybug, or as it was called, a little lovebug. It was the smallest little ladybug charm ever.  There was also a poem accompanying the little ladybug.  It was a sweet little thing to remind me she loves me.  The ladybug charm stayed in a special place all throughout my growing up years.  My grandma was pretty impressed I never lost it.  Granted, it did have to be replaced after it was lost in the move my parents made while I was at college, but I am going to blame my parents for that one. 🙂

I felt loved on that particular Valentine’s Day. I felt special and cared for.  After that, I wanted to make others feel loved on Valentine’s Day.  It also helps that Valentine’s main colors are pink and red, which I love, and hearts which are pretty and easy to decorate with.  Making a valentine is easy.  Cut out a heart, add some pretty decorations to it and then write a sweet note.  How simple, yet effective. 

This year, I was asked to do a special task.  I was asked to make 61 valentines for a church group I am a part of called, “Christ Love in Action,” or CLIA for short.  These valentines were being sent out to the widows and widowers in our church along with a gift card to a restaurant in town.  This group wanted to make sure these members of the church felt extra loved on this special day.  I was so honored to be asked to make all of these valentines, and I do really hope these put a smile on many of these member’s faces.  

We are commanded many times throughout the Bible to love our neighbor, love the people in the world, and just love others more than ourselves.  Romans 13:10 is one example which says, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  The Bible is sometimes considered to have a lot of laws and rules, but at the base of all of these laws is love.  Love for God and love for your neighbors is the core of being a Christian and following God to the fullest.

 I am reading a book for my Quiet time with God in the morning called, “Gaining by Losing” by J.D Greear. This is all about how we as a church and as followers of Christ are being sent out to preach the good news and the love of Jesus.  We are all commanded to love others and to share his good message.  One quote from this book really struck me which was, “He blessed you to be a blessing.”(Greear, Gaining by Losing, page 50)  This is so true.  Anyone who is a Christian has been blessed with the love of God and has been blessed with the knowledge of Him.  Now we are commanded to show that love to others.  

My challenge for you this week is to spread love to others around you.  Yes, for some this may be for your significant other.  But I also wanted to challenge you to spread love to someone else in your life who maybe doesn’t always receive love on a regular basis.  This can be a friend you haven’t reached out to in a long time, this can be a family member you know is going through a hard time, or this could be a coworker who has been really helpful to you in the recent days.  Just spread the love.  I truly believe Valentine’s Day is more than a day for a significant other.  It is a day to remember our loved ones and a reminder to spread the love we have for them.