Katie's prayer: Celine Dion's "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day"

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
To give a little love everyday

If you know me at all, you know that I’m a little bit crazy. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that I’d be the kind of person that would get a Christmas song stuck in their head in the middle of February. I have no idea how it got into my head, but it appeared and there was no getting rid of it. So I embraced it, opened it on my iTunes and have been listening to it non-stop since with the knowledge that somehow, someway, maybe God was trying to tell me something. I think I maybe figured it out...maybe.

The basic idea centers around the word “love.” It’s every where these days! Valentine’s Day is 4 days away. The morning news has been having a “countdown to Valentine’s Day” this entire week. Practically every other commercial is “here’s what you can get your love this Valentine’s Day.” Pink hearts and such have been in stores since before Christmas (that might be a bit of exaggeration, I didn’t really pay attention to when they actually appeared in stores, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened before Christmas).

I have a confession to make - I don’t like Valentine’s Day. And it’s not because (up to this point) I’ve spent every Valentine’s Day as a single person and it turned into “Single’s Awareness Day.” Part of it is due to the fact that it’s almost 100% a Hallmark holiday - some company telling me when to show love to others. St. Valentine was a pretty good guy and all, but why should I want to give stuff to other people (or receive stuff from other people) on his feast day? Why St. Valentine and not another saint? I feel like personal anniversaries should be more important than a random day that some company decided.

I think the reason I hate Valentine’s Day the most, though, is because of the warped image of love that it puts out. The word love is just thrown around - I love chocolate, I love sleeping in, I love thunderstorms. Not to say that I don’t say these things, cause I do. I mean, just earlier this week, I confessed my love for brie cheese. “Love” is not “like”. TV shows and movies show people saying “I love you” on like date 2. “Love” is not “lust”. What is love? Love is self-sacrificial. Love is being willing to die for another person. God is Love. Love is being like Christ to another.

So, I challenge you, find a way to give a little love (the real love) today. Not because Valentine’s Day is here and the world says to, but because that’s what we’re called to do EVERYDAY.


And then random video from Mark Hart because I “love” him....