Valentine’s Day is over and you sigh with relief. Did you have a feeling of neglect all day and shed tears over the romantic Valentine attention you once had? Or did you rush through the day, your head filled with getting the day over with before your heart noticed?
At this point in your life you might consider yourself lucky if your deceased spouse didn’t make a big deal of Valentine’s Day, because at least you didn’t spend the day fretting about what you’d lost. Some guys are so bewildered about the big Valentine fuss that you’re lucky if you get three daisies and baby’s breath wrapped in waxed paper from the grocery store.
As a widow, how did you find the day passed for you? Were you miserable or have you now made a plan for handling days in which the whole world except you seems deliriously happy and wallowing in chocolate and roses?
Or did you still feel like Job when he murmured, “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity…Job 19:21.
My husband used to bring me a sweet card from the drugstore, a box full of which I still keep in my closet. Here’s the way I learned to handle this holiday. I pray to God to help me march firmly through the day. Then I treat myself to a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints! They are for sale in front of many stores this time of the year; the purchase helps those sweet little girls; and I get a chocolate Valentine treat.
The Bible verse that spoke to me today was the one about God’s love, which we always have even when we don’t feel earthly love. What a comfort that we are not completely bereft.
What was most challenging to you on Valentine’s Day? Did you find a way to help yourself or others? Please share.
God Is Love
“My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.” 1 John 4:7-10 The Message (MSG)
