Some of you stopped reading at the title. I know, it’s never been my favorite holiday either. It’s so cheesed up by the jewelry commercials, Hallmark has enough terrible cards to make you cry just reading them, and our world has such a messed up view of love that I don’t want to celebrate that. And somehow even when you do celebrate it there may be expectations that aren’t met and you’re left feeling sad on the day that is deemed the day of Love. Has anyone ever experienced that?
However, whether it’s my favorite day to celebrate or not, I go all out for my kids. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget my man, we’ll celebrate too. I want them to feel loved and more importantly we want to remind them that true love is defined by God, not our culture. I want them to know that God never fails, never leaves us, is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love, and sacrificed everything for us. He delights in them. He delights in us! We may not always like His plan or feel loved at times but these truths remain no matter what.
We’ve been crafting around here all month. Jenna picked out her Valentine card from Pinterest that we would make for school. They didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted but she loved them and that’s all that matters. And she’s adorable so they were perfect.
At MOPS a couple weeks back we made cute little Valentine’s holders to put on our kids doors. I love crafts that others prepare and clean up for you.
I made some paper crafts to put on the table (pictured above), put some fun tags on straws for our drinks at dinner and made some delicious gummy hearts. Seriously they are so good. I would do raspberry next time to add a little tart to it but I recommend these little yummies. I then put them in a bag with a tag to give to our guests at dinner.
My friend Rachel and I also made a cake and cut out hearts that we’ll decorate and give to some neighbors and of course eat here for dessert too.
In preparing for our small group dinner for Valentines day I wrote out verses on hearts that I’ll hide around the house for the kids to find and then read. We’ll play a little Valentine’s Bingo, eat heart shaped pizza and enjoy the company of friends. Sounds like a fun night to me!
I hope that if you have a date planned it’s a delightful time. I also hope that if you don’t, if you’re lonely and life is just disappointing right now that you’ll remember God delights in you. He loves and adores you. I pray you would feel loved today.