Photo on soulshine9productions.com
This year Christina and I decided to do something different for Valentine’s Day. In the past, we would always find a babysitter and then go out for a nice dinner. We would have a great time catching up on things and sharing with one another. It has always been a good memory for me.
But for some reason, this year, we felt that we should include our kids in the Valentine celebration. If Valentine is a time of sharing love with people that you care about, then we wanted to share it with the three children that God has blessed us with.
After the evening was over, I gave the whole Valentine thing some thought.
Here are some things that I was reflecting on:
2) I realized that Christina and I have been going on weekly dates for the last 15.5 years (minus when I travel for missions). It is something that we talked about when we first got married. We made a resolution that we would “date” each other every single week and by God’s grace we have been able to faithfully keep that promise to each other. More recently, God has been even affording us some spontaneous moments, where we would spend more time together on dates beyond the once a week. Due to these unexpected blessings, we didn’t feel like we “needed” to do something special for Valentine’s Day. In fact, it freed us to spend more time with our kids.
3) Why is there this obsession and glorification of a day known for romance? I don’t want to be a party-pooper (I am definitely a hopeless romantic) but after tonight, I just started to think about how we have elevated this one day out of all the other days. After all the money spent on flowers, chocolates and teddy bears, do we have a greater understanding of real biblical love? As in the words of Christina (in the moments of rebuke), “Who cares if you do something great for just one day? I want consistency in the little things!” Maybe instead of trying to be create an incredible mountaintop experience for one day, which is here today and then gone tomorrow, what if we daily lived out the biblical definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6?
4) As we were having dinner, we decided to go around and have everyone shared what we thought helped contribute to more love for one another than the previous year. It was so encouraging for Christina and me. Our three kids pretty much said the same thing but with different examples. In essence, they were thankful that we were able to show love to one another by simply spending time together. Maybe this is what it all comes down to? Instead of hyping up one day out of the whole year to express our love, what would happen if we express that love on a daily basis in the context of quality time? Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what I am doing as a parent, but by His grace, I am praying that that some of the investments that I have made with my family will have great fruits in the future.
5) What if we made Valentine’s Day less about two people doing things together, but a day where couples find ways to bless people who are single or people who are struggling with things in life? I am not trying to start a revolution (so don’t worry Hallmark). I’m just saying wouldn’t it be awesome to see couples who are so filled with God’s love and love for one another that they can take a day to bless others. On a day where the whole world makes such a big deal and focuses so much on romance, what would it be like to introduce people to the greatest love of all? People would be surprise to know that there is a Great Romance but it comes when we look to the One that can completely fill us.
