Happy Valentine's Day!

I’m a romantic. So sue me.
Think I’m being facetious? Not so much. More and more, it seems, there’s a groundswell of women who make it their business to exhibit an absolute stone-cold hostility toward this perfectly innocent little holiday in the middle of February.

So what’s that all about?

Yes, I know. If you’re single and you don’t want to be, the last thing you want is a reminder of it. It can hurt. It can make you feel as if the entire world is one big Noah’s Ark...except for you. You may find yourself muttering, with Charlie Brown, “I already know no one likes me. Why do they have to have holidays to emphasize the fact?”
But does “no one,” in fact, like you?
I suspect that’s not the case.

You’ll hear, “Oh, it’s just another way to sell cards and flowers and candy.”
Ooooooookay. And this is bad...why?

Seriously. Putting aside for the moment the clear and obvious nutritional benefits from chocolate :-), do you really begrudge your local florists and confectioners a living?
I suspect not.

And let’s also not forget, some of our sisters and brothers out there in Writer Land make part of their living, if not all of it, writing the insides of greeting cards...yes, even Valentines.
Do you want them to have to stop?
I suspect not.

In fact, I suspect that the protests and slams and sarcasm we hear around Valentine’s Day have little to do with being “adult” or “realistic” enough to “see through” the holiday for the “fake” it is.
But they have a lot to do with fear.

Let’s face it. At the bottom of not having a “sweetheart,” after all, is the reality of being alone.
And being alone is scary. Just ask any of the little children we used to be.
...any of the little children, inside, that we still are.

But what if we stopped being afraid?
What if we could find a One and only who never lets us go...in the greatest romance of all?
And what if He lived up to everything we’d ever hoped for, beyond our wildest romantic imaginations?
Would we be able to fathom, then, why that might be worth celebrating?

After all, the One who loves us more than anyone on earth possibly could has promised every single one of us hearts, and flowers, and frills--mansions, even--“beyond anything we could ask or think.”
If that’s not worth a little romantic anticipation, I don’t know what is!

So--for many reasons--I’m a romantic.

Yes, I love the hearts and the lace, the candlelight and sweet poems, the chocolate and the roses. I love the walking-on-airs and the happy-ever-afters and the til-death-do-us-parts.
But most of all, I love the fact there is One person above all who loves me so much He can’t wait to see me in person. And no matter what day it is on the calendar, who else is in your life, or even if your mailbox has no greeting cards in it...He still loves you just that same way, too.

Ain’t love grand? :-)

Janny