…Yeah, that was the induction of very Old English into my post’s title, and yes, it was only for cute rhyming reasons. (Come to think of it, all my titles have some weird meaning…hmm) Anyway, I wanted to post something on Valentine’s Day, but not for just all my friends to read (I want to appear to be far above this commotion). So I’ll probably be rambling, considering I have not thought about this blog at all, and will, in fact, be making the entire thing up as I go along. I hope you enjoy.
Okay, so every year, about three weeks to a month before (and still going backwards annually), stores and websites begin displaying pink, purple, and white color palettes, selling large pink bags of candy and boxes of chocolates, and hanging signs and banners about sales and hearts and, finally, they all say it: Valentine’s Day.
Seriously. If a foreigner came to America during this time period, stayed until February 14th, and then left…he’d be back home telling all his friends we deserve to be blown into tiny pieces. “They’re a bunch of idiots! Who wears pink for a full month, and still has an army?!”
But maybe other countries are conforming, too. After all, Americans set many of the trends. They say things, and other countries listen, whether they’ll admit it or not. We’re a pretty cool country. Yanks win wars, and hug little kids, and have cool beards, and destroy Communism. We stand for a lot. But there’s so many things we’re missing. For instance, Americans don’t understand what love is.
We have Disney, and Disney promotes “Follow your dreams” and “True love’s kiss” and tells families they have to cater to kids, but they have no idea what real Love is. In most films and movies we’ve made, love is very selfish. Certainly in all the commercialism and advertisement and money-making of the fourteenth, love can be bought and paid for with your Visa card.
To really get to my point…we’ve cheapened Love (and you know what I mean by now when I capitalize that word) until it has become just another happy/sad emotion, and we put it on and shrug it off like a jacket. “Don’t feel like being alone right now? Go make friends and get into a relationship. When you’re tired of that, break up and stay single for a while.” And then that mindset got into marriages, and we started divorcing on a whim, because no one really knows what Love is.
When my friends, who are too young to really understand how to love someone enough to carry on a meaningful relationship, get into what they think is a meaningful relationship, I have to clap my hands over my mouth and hide in my room for a day or two. Because I know what’s going to happen. Sooner or later, they will both realize what they’re getting themselves into. If one of those people hasn’t gotten into the on/off routine yet, they walk away from that relationship so hurt, it makes me want to cry. I know that when they walked away, they left a piece of their soul with that person. In effect, that person stole a part of their soul, and then destroyed it. And they can’t figure out why this happened. And they’ll never be the same.
Dramatic? Yes. But no less dramatic than how you feel at the moment you discover your love was nothing more than temporary fuel for a selfish, lifeless hunger. We look to fill the void with things, and money, and friends, and then relationships. Relationships seem to work a little longer, and a little better, and they definitely answer that desire for physical fulfillment. But in the end, when there’s nothing to hold onto except Love, and instead, you have a cheap, mock-up, off-brand product with no grip and less-than-100%…everyone dies.
I challenge you (and by you, I mean whoever reads this anymore) not to get mad as the commercialism. I ask you to not feel left out of anything because you aren’t in a relationship with anyone. Instead, I implore you to delve into the Bible, and into your relationship with God and Jesus Christ, and discover for yourself what REAL, ACTUAL, 100% LOVE is. And if you ever figure that out, you’ll never feel lonely or sorry for yourself ever again. I’ll name a few things Real Love will do (and not do) this day.
Real Love will never complain. Even if it has to wait.
Real Love will be quiet when it must, and speak when the need arises.
Real Love will be content with whatever stage of relationship God allows.
Real Love will understand the difference between physicality and spirituality.
Real Love will acknowledge that sin exists. It will also kill that sin whenever possible.
Real Love will put the other person before itself, and therefore hurt itself to keep the other from harm.
Real Love will always be there.
Real Love will wait.
Leave a Reply