Roses are red, Violets are blue, & love is found within YOU!
February 14th is known much for its flowers, hearts and chocolate boxes. It is often associated with romance and most importantly love. It is a celebration of that deep and meaningful four-letter word. It could be argued, though, that a majority of people don’t actually enjoy Valentine’s Day. It is a day not of celebration for them, but a reminder of the lack of love they feel. It can feel like rocks being thrown at what are already broken, bruised, and longing hearts.
It is more than understandable why so many find it difficult to celebrate love, when they have been burned by it so many times. It is no secret that for many couples the Valentine heart they once shared now feels like one of those hollow chocolate hearts, the kind that is so fragile it breaks into pieces after the first bite. For those who are not looking forward to the forced flowers, hearts, and date night, this is for you.
There is an overwhelming temptation to flee from pain, and there is just as much an overwhelming temptation to fight it. It is the case in point of the fight or flight response. When you encounter pain and hurt at the deepest level, either you retreat and protect yourself or fight. I would like to argue on the point that there is a third option often overlooked. That option is the action of love.
My mother had a wonderful friend named Carol while I was growing up. I was always wondering why her husband never came to any of the get togethers or why I never really saw him much at all. My mother said he wasn’t that nice to Carol. Over and over again though as the days and years passed by, I only heard Carol say wonderful things about her husband. It never really made sense to me until one day when I was a bit older, I had joined a bible study that Carol joined too. It was in the evening and on the third night when it was time to pray Carol took time to pray out loud for her husband. I quickly then understood why he had never been around. It was true that he was not the kindest man to Carol. But year after year she had been praying for him and was as loving to him as she wished he was to her. Carol continued praying with us that night, and was thanking God that the time had finally come when her husband had begun to love her as much as she loved him all of those years. How amazing is the act of love?
There is a misconception that we should love another only to the degree they reciprocate. That is a false narrative. The real meaning and purpose of love is to give more than is reciprocated. What happens during this act of love that you will find, is it is actually the giver who experiences it even more so. Carol was loving on her husband year after year. What also was happening during that time though, is she too was being sustained by the same love.
Love comes deep from within. The phenomenon is that despite everything we have learned and see so often in this world is that love can shine even amidst the darkest of times, the toughest of trials, and the harshest of realities. Love transcends it all. Meaning that for those who are completely broken hearted, those who know more pain than love, and those who long for the love they once knew, there is still hope. That hope lies not in the waiting for that love to arrive like a gift at the door, but to bring it about by finding it within yourself.
This may be one of the hardest yet most rewarding challenges in this life. To be able to love the unlovable, to feel loved when we feel most put down, and to be love when we feel not a remnant of it inside us. There are all sorts of broken hearts. To be able to mend them often feels impossible. You must be the love you wish to have and show the love you wish to know. Against all odds and all common sense what you will find is that love is felt more when we give it than when we receive it.
1 Corinthians 13:7 says, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Love can remain and sustain through anything not due to the circumstances, but due to the act of love itself. How can we hold onto any hope during the darkest of nights and harshest of storms? We can hold onto hope because we know we do not rely on anything but that which is already within us. Love can always be found within; the question is how hard are we willing to dig to find it? So, for those whose hearts are broken this Valentine’s day, may this be a reminder that the love that is celebrated is not something that can be seen anyway, it is something that we feel and most importantly something that we are.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Roses are red, Violets are blue, & love is found within YOU!