There are legends, about Valentine marrying soldiers against the Emperors orders that young men stay single, believing that married men did not make good soldiers, but that's a legend.
Today Valentine's Day is fraught with minefields: singles avoiding the couple scene, couples under pressure to live up to the commercial hype (flowers, romantic dinner, great gifts, etc....) and when they don't live up to what we have imagined our emotions go into a different turmoil.
"I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures.Love never ends." 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a
We are created by God and God loves, we need to be loved. We want to be told how much we are loved and needed. To be loved means we are to show love not just to our spouses or to our romantic partners but to everyone we meet, the grocery check out clerk, the person we pass on the street, our next door neighbors, fellow parishioners and those that walk through our doors. Patience and kindness are not easy, love is not easy. It is not ment to be.
The love that is often spoken of in the Bible and quoted in the above passage is not the romantic love of cupids and hearts, it is the selfless love that God has for us and we are to demonstrate to others.
Isn't good to know that the love of God never ends?
