On his way out the door to school my five year old looked up at me with his beautiful big eyes and said,
- It really is Daddy, it’s after Sunday it is… I know it is… it’s the loving day.
- The what? I said.
- It really is, he said again, it’s the loving day.
I was perplexed and bent down to try and understand. My daughter chirped in to help out.
- Dad, she said, he means Valentine’s day!
I smiled and gave him a big hug as he ran out the door.
What a great expression. Today is the loving day.
We don’t know anything about Saint Valentine, whom this day used to honour. And the day itself has been completely commercialized.
What a great idea. Let’s make today the “loving day” and go the extra mile to express gratitude in a simple but direct way to someone we care about. Or ask someone for forgiveness (always the hard part of love!). Or make a random act of kindness.
Let us measure ourselves today, not by what we do or what we own, or by our failure or sorrow. Let’s measure ourselves today by our best effort to be guided by love and compassion in all that we do and say.
It’s loving day!
Nathan
