Personally, I believe that Valentine’s day was invented and placed right smack dab in the middle of winter to give us all a wonderful excuse to give and receive flowers in the midst of winter. What better way to perk up a cold cloudy season of blah? Apologies to those that actually enjoy winter. As much as I’ve tried, I just can’t. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings one bit to live somewhere slightly tropical or where sunshiny days are the norm. 
Valentines’ day is one of those holidays that brings either joy to some (happy couples) or a bit a sadness (singles, etc) to others. We celebrate it up with lovely pink and red hearts, gobble down decadent chocolates and put out blooming bouquets brought by our sweethearts. What hopeless romantic, or anyone, for that matter wouldn’t love Valentine’s day? I know I’m a sucker for a huge box of Whitman’s and the sight of my husband coming through the front door, flowers in hand. And, of course, its always the cherry on top if he writes a love note in a pretty card. (:
But what I love the most about this sweet holiday is what we are celebrating – L-O-V-E. Love. The word is even pleasurable to say. Puppy love, romantic love, tough love, motherly love, in love….so many different ways to define this emotion, this feeling and in fact this deep attachment coming from the depths of our being. Hopefully, all of us will experience many types of love in our life times. But, the greatest love we will ever experience is the love of our Heavenly Father. As humans we attempt to love each other the best we can, but will always fall short. We hurt the ones we love sometimes and can even take advantage of one another for the sake of love. Even in the most powerful bonds of motherhood, we still cannot out love God. He is the master, the expert at loving beyond reason and beyond what is deserved. Agape love.
Not a single one of us deserve the unconditional love God pours on us. But, we should gratefully and passionately embrace it daily. If we truly and actively lived in this knowledge, I believe we’d all be able to love each other a whole lot better. What if we looked at others and thought of them as someone loved dearly by God. Would it change how we treat them? Would it change how we judged one another? I think it would. There are people in all of our lives that have gained the label as “hard to love.” I know I have met a few in my lifetime, but I have chosen to love them because they are loved by God. I may not like them because that’s another thing entirely to accomplish. I do, however find, that when we purposefully CHOOSE to love the unlovable or those that hate us, we can even start to like them just a little. 
The Bible says to love your enemies and do good to those that hate you – I would call that “Love in Action.”(Matthew 5:43-48)
Love doesn’t always have to be felt to be “love.” Love is not only a noun but a verb.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Fully Zoetic 