Valentine’s Day.
Some people pretend it doesn’t exist, and some people love it (pun intended). Cully and I don’t really celebrate the holiday for two reasons, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
First, I want to say: This is not meant to judge anyone who enjoys Valentine’s Day or celebrates it.
I have friends who count this day as their favorite holiday (both single and non-single alike), and it’s fun to see the different ways that people celebrate it (and I’m always open to stealing fun date ideas). Or you can be like Leslie Knope and instead celebrate Galentine’s Day—really, any excuse to eat waffles.
So, back to the two reasons why Cully and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day:
- We like to celebrate specific days/anniversaries that are meaningful to us as a couple. Again, no shame in celebrating Valentine’s Day, but we feel as though it’s not very personal to our relationship. There are plenty of days we do celebrate, so why add one into the mix that has no significant bearing for us?
- The day before Valentine’s Day, February 13th, is a day we do celebrate. February 13 is Cully’s Spiritual Birthday (or Jesus Birthday, if you like). Formerly an atheist, this is the day he would say he truly became a Christian (as a freshman in college). His story of becoming a Christian is extraordinary—and is very much rooted in love. God’s love, intentionality, and timing, the love and acceptance he received from Christians he met in college, and the love continually given to him by his best friends from high school.
The love of God abundantly overshadows any kind of love I could give—AND conquers the years of loneliness I felt being single on Valentine’s Day. One of my favorite passages in the Bible points directly to this in Romans 8:
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39 in NASB
This passage attests that, “we overwhelmingly conquer”—how powerful! Through Christ, we are ready for battle—to the extent that NOTHING can separate us from God’s love.
Hearing that makes conventional Valentine’s Day pale in comparison. If you believe that the Bible is true, what this passage is saying is life-changing. I pray that Christ’s love would be apparent to you on Valentine’s Day—regardless of what your relationship status is on Facebook.
A few more (but definitely not exhaustive) verses on God’s love:
Isaiah 43:1-3, Psalm 147:3, Psalm 37:23-24, Zephaniah 3:17, John 15:3
What do you think of Valentine’s Day? Do you have a favorite verse on love?
Carmen
I never really liked Valentine’s Day personally because I felt it was a day for couples to celebrate. Since I have been single most of my life, I always felt kind of left out of the festivities. Also, even if I was in a relationship, I would want to focus more on loving him with my whole heart every day, and not just on Valentine’s Day. I have nothing against people who celebrate it, nor do I judge them for it, but for me, Valentine’s is not special.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve never celebrated or observed Valentine’s day before, but that’s because of being single and not for any theological reasons. To me it’s a day like any other day. I do think people can put too much emphasis on it anyway if you are in a relationship. A relationship needs to be worked at all year and it shouldn’t only be on the 14th of Feb that one tries to make more of an effort if you haven’t the rest of the year.