I would like to propose a different perspective on this whole Valentine’s Day…instead of calling it Valentine’s Day, let’s call it a
Celebration of Love Day
Scripture says in Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment. And the second is the like, namely this Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
I would like to share alternate ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or shall I say – the Celebration of Love Day, by demonstrating different ways to show your sincere love for the following 3:
1. God
(And thou shall love the Lord thy God…)
2. Others
(…love thy neighbor…) and
3. Self
(…as thyself…)
1. Tangible ways to celebrate love for God on Valentine’s Day would be to double up your morning prayer time, spend time worshipping God to your favorite worship music by just loving on Him and asking nothing in return, or having what I call a “date with God” where you would have a nice dinner over candlelight and soft music and end it with reading your favorite Scripture or curled up to your favorite Christian book.
2. Since Scripture admonishes us to love our neighbors, and when you think of neighbor you think of someone really close to you, so love on your close friend or relative. Get a close friend or relative a Valentine’s Day card (they do make VDay cards for friends) or a bag of sweetheart candy, have a “girls night out” (but please don’t spend the night ‘male bashing’…instead use it as a night to celebrate each other and encourage each other by telling one another what you believe makes them uniquely special and wonderful)
3. Self love. After you’ve demonstrated love for God and others, take time out sometime today to demonstrate love for yourself. Pamper yourself tonight with a mani-pedi (either at a shop or at home), spend some time on your favorite hobby or do the favorite thing you love to do, speak positive affirmations over yourself in the mirror – take one thing you didn’t like about yourself and turn it into a positive. For example, if you have freckles and were teased because of them as a child, remind yourself that your freckles are God’s unique signature just for you that makes you special. Like King David said, encourage yourself in the Lord your God and celebrate love for self today.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
1 Samuel 30:6