Well, Valentine’s Day is coming up on Sunday…perhaps the only holiday that fills my heart with fear. Any other men (or women) feel the same way? We certainly don’t want to mess this one up, right? Don’t even get me started on the “cake pan gift” incident from years ago. I followed up with diamonds the following Valentine’s Day – was that overcompensating? We know we love our spouse/significant other very much – and sometimes we fear choosing the wrong way to show it on a special day like Valentine’s. For those of you husbands who have this dialed in shoot me an email and help me out 🙂
I’ve been thinking about my fear of Valentine’s Day in the context of our theme for this school year “No Fear” based on Isaiah 12:2: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” When I think about it, it really is silly to fear getting Valentine’s Day “wrong”. Love isn’t and certainly shouldn’t be about fear. Love is about generosity and kindness and compassion and simply putting someone else’s needs before our own. And if we ever get confused about that, all we need to do is consult God’s Word – the ultimate guidebook about love. Jesus’ unconditional and sacrificial love for us wipes away all fear and doubt. As 1 John 4:18a teaches us, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” OK, so maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t so scary to me after all. Wow…those cake pans on Amazon look nice…she’ll love those.