Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Why do people celebrate it?  People around the world do not celebrate it the same.  Some people celebrate it as just an adult holiday based around love.  Others celebrate it with just the children.  Where does it come from?  It comes from 3 different sources; however, it has not always been called Valentine’s Day.  

I actually have most of my notes from teaching for so many years, and going to libraries to deep dive the subject.  I also use this site: https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Valentines-ay/390980 

Valentine’s Day has become a mix of three different holidays that all celebrated one thing: love. 

 In the early centuries in England and Europe Catholics celebrated the Feast of Saint Valentino who was the basis for love as written in 1 Corinthians 13 what true love is.  The Greek word for this love is called; aggios which translate as true love.  This is the love that is between a father and child or God and His children.  It primarily teaches us what love is and is not.  Today, many Catholics still celebrate the feast of Saint Valentino.  He was a Roman Christian who tried to use love to push the head of Rome to become a Christian.  He was eventually killed as the head of Rome was a proud man who was not going to be easily swayed.  

Another reason people celebrate this day is because of the Roman festival called; Lupercalia.  This celebration came about before Jesus was born and Rome did not have a name.  It was based on the goddess: Lupa.  Lupa was a female wolf who didn’t have any children.  One day she was out on her hillside and she heard cries coming from 2 pups whose mother had been killed.  Lupa chose to take care of them and raise them as her own.  She had to give up many things for them, but she didn’t care because she loved them so much.  As time grew on the pups became fierce warriors; full of strength, honor and virtue. Their names held such powerful strength that putting them together in the Greek created the word: ‘Roman’.  Since then Rome celebrates Lupa in early spring (February 14).  

Between the 15-16th centruies many scholars would find a poem written in the 14th century about birds.  Why this is sigificant in the world was crazy.  The author was liked very much by their peers only after they died: Farad Attar.  The poem is all about how birds decide they need to find the god of love: Simurgh who will help them get pregnant and have babies.  The birds go on a quest to different parts of the world and different areas (up high beyond the clouds and down low into the ocean) but eventually they find the god and they eventually mate and have their babies.  As the scholars were looking they realized that the birds mate in early February which was called, Early Spring.  Thus, the poem became a day where people celebrated mating season for not only birds but also other animals and people too.  

Whether you celebrate for any of those reasons; you celebrate Valentien’s Day.  In some countries, the women would cook a dinner for the man and if the man liked it the women would received a special gift on Feb 23rd.  Another country would only celebrate men and their strength and virtue by throwing a party or celebration where the man must participate in various activities to show their strength the week prior.  On Valentine’s Day, if the family decided they did a good job then they would give the man a special treat.  In Italy many couples still celebrate the goddess of Lupa and participate in various activities so they can have children. In America, we celebrate by throwing parties for the children and the children pass around little toys, flowers or, cards to other children or to their families.  The parents might try to eat a special mean and also exchange gifts.  In some African cultures people run around and put the names of their crushes on their sleeves.  Other countries call it, ‘Chocolate Day’ where the adults will give the children chocolate for various reasons.  My husband and I had a ham dinner and we gave each other chocolate.   Outside of raising and teaching kids it is just another day for us.  Each day we tell each other: ‘I love you’.  Many of our friends and family no longer has their spouse so we try to give them a reminder that we love them too.  However you spend Valentine’s Day, I pray that you had a very good day!

Anxiety

Lone Goose

When I think of anxiety I think of a cat I use to pass around to different teachers.  It was a brown cat whose fur was standing out on all ends.  The caption read, ‘I’m not stressed, who said I was stressed?’

I’ve dealt with anxiety my entire life and it has showed its ugly head more times than I could ever count.  When I was young i would have an anxiety attack and bite my hands till they bled.  When I was older I would kick trees or punch brick walls.  In college a professor taught me to find inner peace (he told me to find it with God, but that wasn’t for me).  I would often be standing at the top of the steps on one leg like a flamingo finding my inner peace.  When I became a Christian, I would continue to use Chi with worship music so that it could help the anxiety.  I have always snaped my fingers, played with playdough, bit my nails, bit my lips, smacked my tounge and clicked when I would grow frustrated, scared, angry or just having an issue.  I never realized they were signs of anxiety and stemming until my oldest daughter was doing it at a college psyc interview and they asked her why was she stemming.  I laughed.  Yes, I stem, often.  Stemming helps me think, it helps me relax, it helps me listen and at no time is it causing me or anyone else harm.  I hated when people would tell me to teach their child to stop, why?  

Let’s get back.  I have anxiety over many things.  I get scared in crowds, at church, in movie theaters, around family (mainly my mom or oldest brother), loud noises, and even being alone constantly.  No matter how much I worship God, know matter how much I follow Him, anxiety is very real in my life.  Some days I am ok, sometimes I’ve got it together but; there are days that I’m not ok, there are days that I cry myself to sleep or just don’t want to be.  I question why I am here, why would I matter, why can’t all this leave.  I haven’t found much of an answer.  People tell me that I should rely on God a little stronger, I should read the Bible more, I shouldn’t say it out loud because if i say I have anxiety somehow I’ve let Satan in.  I don’t believe any of that.  I get lonely, I get distraught, I even get depressed.  In the Bible I found many people who did the same.  King David’s name came up in every search I looked up.  Despite God on his life, he struggled with deep depression and anxieties.  Yet, God still singled him out among the top biblical people.  Peter had horrible anxiety and if you look in the new testament, he denied Jesus 3 times because of it.  Yes, I know there is about 360 times ‘fear not’ is mentioned in the Bible.  Did you ever wonder why?  Why did God talk about it so much?  Why did Gen-Revelations mention it so many times?  I have heard that I am weak because I admit it, I stand here today to tell you that I am neither weak nor are you!  God knows that we will have hardships in this world.  He knows that we will have anxiety over fears, over money, over disabilities, over people, over life.  That is why there are so many verses to continuously remind us what to do when anxiety or depression (or both) happen.  It is giving us a DIY how to deal with it.  In John 16 it states; ‘I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

Instead of praying against the anxiety pray that God will allow you to lean on Him during it.  That despite the depression or sadness you feel that God will hold you close and remind you how big He is for you.

 

Together

In Nehemiah 4:6 it says, “So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together for the people had a mind to work.” KJV

This is my favorite verse.  It shows how it doesn’t take one person to create anything, it takes ‘people’ more than one person.  Same as becoming a Christian; it is your choice, but it takes other people surrounding you, talking with you, listening to you and friending you to help you in your new walk.  It was never meant to be a single person endeavor.  If you do not have people around you, email me, find a church to attend online or in person, I have some awesome friends that can help you. 

Becoming a New Creation

I speak with God like I speak with a friend.  I do not believe we are to talk to God like we would a royal patron or someone as such.  God wants to be our friend, not our boss, not our slave owner.  When you pray speak to Him as your friend, someone you in-trust your inner thoughts too.  

I have found that once I became a Christian my life was different, but He didn’t demand anything from me, but that I love Him and trusted Him with my life.  I find that so many people think once they become Christians that meas they must give up things they love, things they enjoy and even people.  God will work with you if that is what He convicts you to do away with.  Some friends have moved away from Disney because they felt that God convicted them, but He has not asked this of me.  God has convicted me of drinking often.  However; I was an addict, it was hurting me and He wanted me to live free from it.  I do not condemn drinking and yes, I do have a drink once in a while.  Some people told me several different things now that I was a Christian, but, I learned that life would be boring if I listened to everyone and I only give things up if God tells me to, not everyone else.  They aren’t the ones that constitutes the way I live my life, God is and at this point, He is the only one that matters for me.