Sex, lies, & loneliness...with a box of chocolates & a dozen flowers.

There is no clear history for today's holiday. The most popular view is that Pope Gelasius changed the pagan festival of Lupercalia, an ancient Roman fertility celebration, into a feast in honor of Saint Valentine, a martyr of the 3rd century...BUT there are 3 known Saint Valentine's within the Catholic churches history. If you look at their individual stories from the churches history, you deduce that the Valentine that was a priest in Rome during Claudius II reign is who the church is most likely honoring. If you've seen Valentine's Day, then you already know the basics of his story from the ever-lovely Jennifer Garner (but historians discredit her version on the "love-story" side of things). In an attempt to keep his soldiers from becoming weak, Claudius II decreed that they were not allowed to marry. Valentine strongly disagreed & was caught marrying soldiers in secret & Claudius II had him sent to jail. There in jail he met the jailer's daughter & they became great friends. When Claudius II ordered him to be executed, Valentine sent his friend a farewell signed "From your Valentine."

What a sweet story, right? Sure. It's about a man who took a stand for love & then was killed for it...it gets even better if you go with Jenn's version & say that in his attempt to 'save' love, he himself found it & then died for it. It's all very romantic, whichever version you tend to agree with, but both aren't what you think of for our culture today.

2/14 is a day for sex & for singles to be sad about being single. We are sold sex in commercials, cards, candy, clothes, knick knacks and at the same time, we are told that you must be miserable if you haven't found "the one." Do you know if you spend $100 at Victoria's Secret, you will get $15 off just because it's Valentine's? Today will have an increase in restaurant sales & hotel reservations...even liquor stores will benefit from the holiday. Today is the perfect day for a high school couple, really in love, to lose their virginity with each other. Did you know it will solidify their love for each other & keep them together forever? According to a girl behind me at the donut shop yesterday, in Highland Village at 10 am dressed in what I would say was church appropriate clothes, her parent's will be out all night on a date so she will be able to have the whole house to herself with her new boyfriend. Her friend responded, "lucky, my parents won't even let me see [her boyfriend] tomorrow. So are you ready? It'll hurt but be soo worth it." (I felt like I was in a bad movie...I could do nothing but weep for them & pray)

Redeem this view for your children.

Redeem this view for your daughters.

Redeem this view for your sons.

Redeem this view for your single friends.

Redeem this view for a stranger.

Redeem this view for yourself.

The saddest thing for me with those high-schoolers is that they don't know love. They have no concept or reality what that four letter word means, what it stands for, who died for it...

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..." Romans 5:8 NASB

Oh what a God...to create a perfect world, have it fractured with sin, send His son to save us by dying for us, being raised from that horrific death & promise to return yet again! Amazing.

This is love.

Not flowers or candies or cards...& definitely not sex.

My mom was always so intentional on holiday's that could be "worldly" as a kid. We decorated the house every month there was a holiday...July we had red/white/blue everywhere, March we had green, (depending on the year) we had eggs & pastel colors everywhere for Easter, & Valentine's was no different- we had reds/pinks/purples. Mixed in with these colors & various holiday symbols were verses. Verses about the control of the Lord in a nation, in comparison to themes of solely praising the men who founded our country. Verses about the purpose & plan God has for our lives, in comparison to themes of luck & happenstance. Verses about Palm Sunday, the Death & Resurrection of Christ, in comparison to themes of bunnies, eggs & candy. Verses about love, in comparison to themes of fairy tales, lust, candy & flowers. Valentine's was a holiday about love and encouragement for the Stanford house, through the work of the cross. My parent's went on a date in celebration of the love & commitment they had with each other because of Christ's love for His church. Every Valentine's I woke up to a house flooded with verse clad hearts. I would have a heart shaped sandwich & a note of encouragement on my napkin. My dad would give my brother & I a box of Snoopy chocolates with a handwritten, "I love you" across the top. Even in my darkest seasons of life, before & after Christ saved me, I have never felt alone on this holiday. Because of the intentional actions of my parents I know what love means. I know what the "love holiday" is actually about. I've never had a reason to be apart of the "lonely hearts club."

I am not alone. I am never alone. I am loved beyond my comprehension.

Redeem for your children, views of a commercialized & secular holiday.

Redeem for your daughters, views of a fairy tale "prince."

Redeem for your sons, views of a woman's body & expose lust.

Redeem for your single friends, views of singleness & loneliness.

Redeem for a stranger, the meaning of love- be Christ for them today...1 Corinthians 16:14

Redeem for yourself, ways you've taken for granted the LOVE of the Lord.

"...Love never fails..."

"...For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them & was raised again..."

"From your Valentine"

"A" is for "Antisocial"

Paul David Tripp said that "sin in it's fundamental form is 'antisocial' " & I sadly can give physical examples to back up this statement...I mean...I'm not going to describe those closed off seasons where behaviorally I was antisocial in nature during this post, but that's because I think this statement also fits something else...

Worship.

When I am sinning, every aspect of my worship is diminished.

Worship in song is, more often than not, my souls heartbeat. I love beautiful voices & tones, acoustic sounds, piano, jazzy melodies, violin/cello, hip hop beats, gospel choirs(actually choirs of any kind), country twang, the curious feel of alternative, bass that reverberates thru/around me, multiple part harmonies, melancholy ballads, the harsh beats of rock, & even a soulful rift or two; but none of that matters when I'm walking in sin. I still love all of those things but I can never find the "right" song or station to listen too. This is normally my first 'tell' in the progression of acknowledging my sins. I'll realize one day while driving around, frustrated with myself for not being able to just pick what music I want; or I will not want to listen to 'worship' music of any kind.

My worship through song is made 'antisocial' because of my sin.

The Lord wired me in such a way that this is an effective punishment. It is a weighty thing for me to not find joy in singing but instead feel like I'm just moving my jaw up & down. I feel melancholy when the joy I find in serving is replaced with aimless action. Even the smallest of sins creates an antisocial nature in my worship; how I hate my sin.

Psalm 66:1-2
"Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious."

In thinking about how sin is antisocial in nature, how my sin causes all areas of my life to be antisocial in someway, that I am supposed to Psalm 66:1-2, & that all of this has the resonating truth of the Gospel in the foreground- I can't stop singing the chorus of The Stand..."So I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned in awe of the One who gave it all...So I'll stand my soul Lord to You surrendered all I am is Yours!"

grateful heart + empty/quiet/soft-lit room + headphones blaring =

unashamed, abandoned, uninhibited worship

"So I'll stand

With arms high and heart abandoned

In awe of the One who gave it all

So I'll stand

My soul Lord to You surrendered

All I am is Yours!"

**DISCLAIMER**

I KNOW, BELIEVE, & UNDERSTAND THAT WORSHIP IS NOT JUST SINGING.

I, FOR THIS POST, FELT IT NECESSARY TO POINT OUT &

HIGHLIGHT THAT EXTENSION OF WORSHIP IN MY LIFE,

WHEN & HOW IT IS AFFECTED BY MY SIN.