Happy Valentine's Day

We love holidays at our house. Most of the holidays have so much meaning behind them. We use these holidays as an opportunity to reinforce history and our faith to our children. I understand that many readers may not be people of faith but please bear with me as I explain. In the Bible God's people dug wells and built altars everywhere they went. Why? I would guess that the well water was necessary for life and altars were places where they stopped to thank God, repent of sins, and recognize their Creator Supreme. The wells and altars were also "markers" for those that came behind them--1)wells were a blessing to those that followed behind, because they didn't have to dig them. 2) Altars reminded those same followers that someone had been there and had reason to worship. In our home, we view holidays sort of the same. They're oftentimes "markers" or points of remembrance for some person of importance or faith, an event or happening.

Let's take Valentine's Day. Many people don't even know the true meaning of Valentine's Day. Who was Saint Valentine? Why does he have a holiday devoted to him? Why is it associated with love? We researched this out as our children became older, so we could explain to them the true meaning behind the holiday. We were excited to know the truth about Saint Valentine and the rich Christian values in his story. While there are may references and resources about the topic, I'm going to give you the real quick story in a nutshell. Valentine lived in a day when the Roman empire was at war and found themselves with a diminishing number of soldiers. The emperor at the time was of the thought that soldiers would be more dedicated and fight better if they were unmarried. Therefore, he outlawed marriage. Valentine, who held a position within the church, believed strongly in the Biblical institution of family and that married men would make better soldiers because they had something with which to return and reason to fight for their lives. He continued to secretly marry couples. As a result, he was imprisoned, beaten and sentenced to execution. While awaiting his execution, he prayed for the jailer's blind daughter. The daughter was miraculously healed and the jailer and many others were converted to Christianity. Before his execution, Valentine wrote the daughter a letter and signed it "Your Valentine".

We like to talk to our children about these "real life" stories because in encourages them that there are things in this world that are worth standing for to the death. We see Valentine's Day as another "altar" if you will. A point of remembrance that others have gone before us and paved a way of faith, determination, and great virtue. While we still do the fun things that most people do on Valentine's Day, we center February 14 around the fact that a man died for his belief in what was right. That's reason to remember and celebrate! Happy Valentines from our family here at Walnut Springs Farm!