Love Stories

I stopped at the store this morning to buy some Valentine’s cards for my daughter to give to her classmates at school on Friday. I found myself in an aisle full of candy hearts, fluffy pink teddy bears, and boxes full of chocolate, all claiming to celebrate this age-old and vaguely-defined notion of “LOVE.” I settled on some “Thomas the Tank Engine” cards, which were the most benign of the over-commercialized selection – where were the generic ones with red and white hearts?

It’s an odd holiday, isn’t it? It’s a day that somehow simultaneously encourages two-year-olds to give cards to all their classmates, makes single people feel lonely, and pressures couples into spending lavishly on jewelry or fancy dinners. I wonder what St. Valentine would have thought about it all.

I also wonder if St. Paul was thinking of candy hearts when he wrote these famous lines:

We’re so accustomed to hearing these words at weddings that I think we’ve lost track of what Paul might have had in mind. What if we read these words, not in the context of romantic love, but as a guide for how we are to live as followers of Christ? After all, didn’t Jesus say the greatest commandment is to love God and love neighbor? I suspect that kind of love requires a different approach than sending roses in February.

Something to think about as you are spreading pink icing on those heart-shaped cookies. See you Sunday.