A Valentine’s Weekend Post

I hope you had a sweet Valentine’s Day yesterday. A few years ago Mom was happy when she got some roses. I don’t remember if this was on Valentine’s Day or not, but it could have been. It’s a great time for roses and cards.

A few years ago when Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday, the preacher we had at that time, shared about the origin of Valentine’s Day. Br. Fred said that back a few centuries ago, around 268 A.D. in the Roman Empire, it was decided men should not marry before they entered the Roman army. But love doesn’t always want to wait and neither did the men and women at that time. A priest named Valentine performed so many of the prohibited weddings that the Caesar had him imprisoned. Then legend has it that Valentine wrote his faithful congregation a letter from prison expressing his love for them and signed it “Your Valentine.”

Other stories say that Valentine healed the blind daughter of the judge who sentenced him, and the day before Valentine was executed, he wrote the girl a letter signed, “Your Valentine.” That story goes on to say the judge and his whole family became Christians.

Not everybody agrees with these versions of the origin of Valentine’s Day. You can go out on the internet and read other legends to make up your own mind, but I like the priest named Valentine preforming those forbidden weddings and paying with his life for helping those in love.

The day wasn’t officially established until the end of the 5th century when Pope Celasius declared February 14 as Valentine’s Day. However, it was the 19th century before it became the custom to send flowers, candy and cards to the one you loved. Now other gifts are popular too, especially cuddly stuffed animals like bears or dogs.

I’ve always thought Valentine cards are fun. Especially those that kids exchange at elementary school parties. When my kids were young and I was a room mother for their classrooms, those Valentine’s Day parties were the ones I liked best. All the kids got Valentines from all the other kids. For one day everyone was popular and got lots of cute cards before they got to eat cupcakes and drink some kind of red juices.

Poetry has long been part of Valentine cards. Have you ever written a verse with “Roses are red?” That can go back to Edmund Spenser’s epic The Faerie Queene in 1590.

“She bath’d with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.”

The modern cliché Valentine’s Day poem can be found in the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784)

“The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.”

In 1868, the British chocolate company Cadbury created Fancy Boxes — a decorated box of chocolates — in the shape of a heart for Valentine’s Day. Boxes of chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday. My sister used to get those beautiful heart shaped boxes from her boyfriend when we were teens. I was always so envious.

Ads push the romantic side of Valentine’s Day. They have cards and flowers and diamonds to sell. That makes some people feel lonesome on Valentine’s Day. Maybe they’ve lost their special love that brought them flowers and more. Maybe they’ve never found that special love. At least not yet or maybe never expect to. But it can be a day for fun and friends too and not just celebrate sweethearts. A bookstore in a nearby town has a popular night they call Galentines. And then there are all those “Be Mine” fun cards for kids to exchange. Nobody says you can’t  remember yourself by buying some favorite chocolates or other candy. Or give some roses to make your mom smile.

Best of all, one love we can all be ready to embrace is the love of God. God is love is a Bible verse many kids learn first in Sunday school. “God is love.” Here is the rest of one of the verses that assures us of that love. “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16 NIV) So rest assured that we can all feel loved on Valentine’s Day and every day of the year if we dwell on that verse.

Do you like Valentine’s Day? Do you send cards? Give candy or gifts? Maybe enjoy some chocolates? 

So, Happy Valentine’s weekend and thanks for reading.