Mid-February

Good morning, on this mid-February day.  To most, it's Valentine's Day...the day 'o love.  A fun day for children, with its parties and cards and good-things-to-eat.  I remember it fondly:  the little paperbag containers for the Valentines...the little candy hearts with words on them, lots of chocolate, etc etc.  I remember having mixed feelings about it as a teenager, pre-John.  Feeling a little left out, a little lonely when others were getting flowers and gifts.  I am grateful for sweet remembrances from our children:  cookies and cards and sweet words of affirmation.  I LOVE my flowers and sweet cards from my sweet husband.  Anything given in love is heart-warming and so appreciated.

I remember one Valentines when a local school sold flowers for $1.  Some of the kids had literally lapfuls of them at the end of the day...and some had none :(  Not such a great idea on the part of the school, in my opinion.  Why set up some kids for sad feelings...whose idea was that??

Besides being Valentines, it's also the second day of Lent.  Having grown up in a church where the Christian calendar is observed everyday of the year, I have vivid memories of Lent....giving up things, saving money in my Mite box...celebrating every Sunday as a little Easter...Shrove Tuesday with its pancakes, Ash Wednesday and the imposition of ashes; we were humbled with the ash cross on our foreheads and its meaning...to keep close to our hearts during the 40 days to follow...the darkness which would be followed by the great light of Easter at Christ's resurrection.  I'm so pleased that churches other than Anglican ones now participate in Advent and Lent and other meaningful and wonderful times of preparation and emphasis.  It greatly adds to the Christian experience and growth.

So today, we celebrate love...traditional and spiritual.  Since it is Love Month, I'll close with some sweet words of love:

- Love never gives up.
- Love cares more for others than for self.
- Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
- Love doesn't strut.
- Love doesn't have a swelled head
- Doesn't force itself on others.
- Isn't always "me first."
- Doesn't fly off the handle.
- Doesn't keep score of the sins of others.
- Doesn't revel when others grovel.
- Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.
- Puts up with anything.
- Trusts God always.
- Always looks for the best,
- Never looks back,
- But keeps going to the end...

Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. 
And the best of the three is LOVE!

From I Corinthians 13 - The Message