Dear Valentine...

Like it or not, Valentine's Day is upon us. I have found the more than any other holiday, people hold strong to their opinion of the day. But like it or not- you cannot go to a store without its candies, flowers and hearts being displayed before your eyes.

Every since I was a kid, I have loved the day! My grandmother always sent me a beautiful card, my parents would place a big heart shaped box of chocolate by my breakfast plate and at school we would pile one another's desks high with Disney princess cards, heart shaped lollipops and those beloved (or not) conversation hearts. I would spend hours baking beautiful cookies and making cards with doilies and construction paper just to share the joy with my family whom I love. Unlike many others, even through my single days, I enjoyed celebrating the day of love!

Though some call it simply a commercial holiday where love is forced in your face, you must declare all of your feelings, and you are coaxed to show up at your girlfriend's house with a rose- I call it LOVELY!

In the middle of a snowy, cold winter where everything is looking gray and the festivities of Christmas are a thought of the past, pink and red little hearts and candies begin to appear, thoughts about love are dispersed over the airwaves and life looks a little bit more cheery. It's the time again! Time to love...LOVE.

If you have always enjoyed the day like me- celebrate for all its worth! And if you bemoan the isles of cookies, candies, and cards- rethink your position this year. If you are single, send a loving note to a friend or a parent and place a chocolate on an unsuspecting coworkers desk. If you are in a relationship, take the opportunity to remind the one you love of that very fact! We are celebrating the goodwill of St. Valentine, afterall! And who couldn't use a little love and cheer. Besides its going to come again next year on February 14th, and the year after that as well. Might as well greet it with a smile, send a little love and declare to all who can hear...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! What a wonderful chance to celebrate love!!!

Colossians 3:14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.