Will you be my valentine?

So for those of us who celebrating Valentine's Day I hope you have a wonderful one.  Not everybody is a fan however.  Some people just find it shallow and fake.  Others find great pain when so much attention is focused on "people who are in love" if that's not where they find themselves at that moment.  It can be a bit much I'll grant you. 

For those who find the whole "Hearts and Flowers" stuff irritating/aggravating/painful I have this advice:  Forget about all the "stuff" that comes along with this day.  Remember that it is yet another opportunity to celebrate the love in our lives.  Even if we're the only one who loves us at the moment. That is, of course, never true.  God loves you.  Yep, you.  Right now.  Just the way you are.  No matter how messed up you may think you are God loves you and wants you to be the you He sees in His dreams. 

That's always been one of the hardest parts of the walk in faith for me.  The idea that God loves me despite how screwed up I am, that God loves me through how screwed up I am, that how screwed up I am doesn't deflect God's love for me so much as the width of a hair.  That doesn't mean he doesn't want to work on the screwed up parts.  He certainly does.  It means that while I'm working on those parts God is still there beside me helping me (if I'll let him)

So forget the stuff that hurts you or strikes you as phony.  Remember that you are always God's valentine and do something nice for yourself.)
Peace
Jay