The Heart of Valentine's Day!

Valentine’s Day can be a day of joy, frustration and sadness. Whether it was established as a religious holiday, remembering a martyr, celebrating a Greek god’s son, or even the promotion of card, chocolate, or flower companies, we use this holiday to reflect how we feel about someone special. Historically, the red heart is a Valentine’s Day symbol that represents “love”.

Centuries ago, people did not know that the heart pumped life sustaining blood through their circulatory system. However, they did realize that the heart beat faster when a person was excited or frustrated. For this reason they believed that the heart was the center of one’s soul.

The Bible references the “heart” over 865 times. These include references to emotion, feelings, attitude, and action. Now for the connection. Without the heart, our blood would not circulate throughout our bodies. We could not fight infections; we could not keep the brain sharp. For those in the medical field, you can name numerous other vital needs for the heart. We are all familiar with the vital role that the heart plays in our bodies. We run, walk, eat right, and try and keep the physical heart in shape. What about the heart that the Bible speaks about and the reason for celebrating Valentine’s Day?

When you give your heart (feelings, emotion, dedication, love) to someone they get a lot of attention. Recall the start of a relationship? There were e-mails, telephone calls, gifts, and numerous gestures to openly show your affection for someone. As the relationship matured, other interferences of life pulled us away from all that attention. Did we care any less? No! It’s just that we should have developed the closeness that a maturing relationship brings without all the ecstatic noise. But, by no means should it stop the open romantic affections for each other.  I have been on my emotional honeymoon for over eleven years and will continue to fix a hot breakfast for my beloved every day.

Our relationship with our Lord should mature in the same way. Recall when you first gave your life and heart to Him? Joy and excitement was felt by you and was shared by everyone around you. Then either we matured the relationship with the Lord or pulled away to our old lifestyles. You control the relationship.

As you celebrate Valentine’s Day, remember that everyday should be a “heart” day for special people in your life. Most importantly it should be a “heart” day for the one who breathed life into you and started that heart beating.