A Valentine's Day Message

In the last seven days the people who live in the Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware have lived through two blizzards. Schools, businesses and even the federal government have all been shut down for almost a week. Now, we are in recovery mode. Streets have been plowed, but still very dangerous, roofs have collapsed under the weight and pressure of snow and ice, power lines have been down and people are still without power, and trees are down every where. These harsh weather conditions have not been limited to the east coast. There have been reports of harsh winter weather all over the country with snow falling in places it usually never snows like in Florida, Alabama and Texas.

In the midst of so much difficulty and upset to our usual routines, it is hard to remember that Sunday, February 14th is Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day, like all holidays has a history and customs, and has been highly commercialized, but what is most important is that it is a time that we focus on love. Love is the greatest gift one person one can give to another, and many times it's not all flowers, candy, and pretty soft stuff animals holding hearts. In fact true unconditional love is much more than romance, it is something that requires much more from each of us.

Unconditional love means we put those in our lives we love first. Jesus is the perfect example of this. He was the son of God. He was perfect in every way. God sent Jesus to Earth so save humankind. Jesus did nothing but show love to other people, but in the end the world rejected him. Right before Jesus was to be taken as a prisoner he was alone and praying. He knew the great pain was coming and he did not want to go through it. He was blameless, but he was about to take on the sins of the whole world and it was going to be beyond horrible. In his moment of sheer terror and weakness he asked God his father if this cup could be pass from him, but before the question was totally out of his lips he said, "Let your will be done."

How many times have you had to change your plans to care for someone else? How many times have you been interrupted to handle something that you did not cause? How many times have you had to clean up a mess that someone else has created? How many times have you been blamed for something that you did not do? What was your response? Was it anger? If it was, that is totally understandable, but give that anger to God and allow him to replace it with love. Love is doing the right thing at the right time, for the right reasons. If we rely on God, then we will know what the right thing is. Love does not mean letting people walk all over you or to allow others to take advantage of you.

So this Valentine's Day, cherish the people that you love in your life. Do something special. It doesn't have to be hearts and candy, it could be doing something special together. If you are alone, remember that you are never alone and receive the love God has for you. Once you know how much God loves you, you can do something nice for someone else. When love unconditionally, you do it without expecting anything in return, and that's true love.

Happy Valentine's Day and remember what it says in Matthew 28:20 "I am always with you."

Special Note: this post is dedicated to a good friend and his family, Mr. Ben Craig