I have to admit this, it’s embarrassing, but true … I LOVE Valentine’s Day. There, I’ve said it - judge away, but before you do, hear me through…
First, let me clarify myself. I’m not at all into the romantic, mushy, Hallmark holiday aspect of Valentine’s Day. For the romantics out there, I admire your appreciation of all things tender. It’s just that due to my personality, I get all kinds of uncomfortable with outward romantic gestures. I get plain goofy and feel compelled to crack a joke. It’s not an ideal trait in a wife, but it’s just my poor husband’s reality. I’m working on that… really, I am.
Now, for why I love Valentine’s Day… My real appreciation began after starting a family. Once I had another small human to take care of I started trying my best to promote the true, Catholic meaning of each holiday. It was probably when my oldest was two that it dawned on me that Valentine’s Day celebrates God’s greatest commandment - to love. Once I had that epiphany, that very same day that I had previously mocked, started taking on a new meaning for me.
For one, we need to start calling it St. Valentine’s Day again, because after all, the day does celebrate a wonderful SAINT. (It’s unfortunate how our secular culture has degraded our holy feast days)! I found this free Prayer Card that sums-up St. Valentine’s gift to our Church better and more succinctly than I ever could. It even includes a prayer that we can pray with our families.
In addition to St. Valentine’s Day being a beautiful day to celebrate this lovely saint, it celebrates Christ’s most important commandment - to love; to love God, to love thy neighbor, and to love thyself. Now that’s something I can get excited about! I love Valentine’s Day because I love that it offers a whole day to devote to showing our families, our friends, our neighbors, and complete strangers that we love them. Not because of who they are, but because of who we are - followers of Christ. We obviously should be doing this everyday, but in our hectic schedules and in this busy world we live in, it’s easy to push this priority to the back-burner of life.
As moms, let’s use this day to teach our children how to express their love, not just to those that we feel comfortable expressing our love to, but to those that are sometimes difficult to love, to those that we forget, and to those who have been thrust to the side by society. And, fellow mothers, please don’t get overwhelmed and start searching Pinterest for the perfect St. Valentine Activities. Simply being mindful and starting the conversation with your family, or doing one “random act of kindness” every year will make a big difference in someone else’s life, especially your own.
Oh my gosh, and how could I forget, St. Valentine’s Day is an excuse to eat candy from sun-up to sun-down?!
I may or may not have eaten half of this bag for lunch while driving in the car...
On that note, Happy St. Valentine’s Day!