Love Month: What's Up with Love Day?

I've always had a bizarre relationship with Valentine's Day.

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As a child, I hated it because it was something grownups got to do, and I didn't. Well, let's say I didn't get to fully participate. Of course, my wonderful parents gave us chocolate and cards telling us how much they loved us, but being the shrew that I was, I still felt excluded. It felt like being given dessert at a dinner party, but being sent right to bed while the grownups continued their party downstairs.

When I became a teenager, my Daddy started bringing me home flowers on Valentine's Day. He actually took the time to learn what my favorite flower was, and made sure he brought it home (my Daddy sure knows how to set the bar HIGH). I was more accepting to Valentine's Day then, and decided hostility against the holiday should give way to a gracious apathy. It was also around this time that I began to realize what went on at the party I wasn't yet invited to. HEY! Valentine's Day is for people in relationships!

In late highschool, I gave in to peer pressure, and began calling Valentine's Day "Single Awareness Day" because it seemed completely unfair that only married/dating people got to celebrate a national holiday. I mean, the snobbery of it all! Why shouldn't the singles of the world get to have a national holiday too! In college, "Single Awareness Day" still continued in its own vein, but Valentine's Day is infinitely more fun when you are living  in a dorm with a bunch of girls. Moping about feeling sorry for ourselves gave way to Roomie Dinner. We made berry pancakes, drank sparkling cider, dressed up, and had a fancy dinner by Christmas twinkle lights. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life, or had so much fun on a day when, as a single lady, I am cited to be miserable.

Let's say there was a change of heart. I no longer refer to February 14th as "Single Awareness Day." Why? It's not a disease. We have "AIDS Awareness Day," and "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," and "Heart Disease Awareness Day." Singleness is not (nor has it ever been) a disease, and we don't need to be aware of it. We don't need to feel sad because it exists, and God knows people don't need another reason to feel sorry for themselves.

I like to look at the history of holidays, as we so often forget why we keep the tradition we do. So, who was St. Valentine? There are many accounts, and several different versions, of who this man was, but they all follow the same basic plot: he was a man martyred for loving people.

One account refers to a minister who married young couples after Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage (apparently, he thought single men made better soldiers). He was convicted of defying the emperor and was put to death. Another Valentine was captured after helping Christians escape harsh Roman prisons were they were beaten and tortured. Valentine was put to death.

Call me crazy, but there is nothing in these legends that even remotely resembles a pink teddy bear or cheap chocolate (or feeling sorry for oneself). John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Silly humans, we've done it again. We made something all about us, when it was meant to be about other people. What if we revolutionized our conception of February 14th? All you lovely in-love people should probably carry on as before, but what if you did something together that showed loves to others? Break out of your nucleus and love other people together! What if you used the day as an opportunity to volunteer for a worthwhile organization, and then catch dinner or a movie after? Single people, get off your butts, put away whatever crap food you were consoling yourself with, and go show unselfish love to people. You'll feel better, I swear. Want an example? This Love Day, members of my church and community are gathering to hold a benefit dinner for LOVE146, an organization that works to combat child sex-trafficking. I can't think of anything sweeter than to spend this day forged from a selfless man's legacy than to dance the night away with friends and spend time in prayer for those who seriously need it. There are hundreds of opportunities to show love this Thursday.

So, no feeling sorry for yourselves, friends, when you have so much love to give. And in-love people, have fun, be kind, and try to show love in a myriad of ways.

Happy Love Day!