Valentine's Day Blessings

This isn’t your typical Valentine’s Day post. Or maybe it is? I don’t know, I guess it will depend on your perspective.

I’m going to share a story with you from earlier today, what it meant to me, and how I hope it encourages you.

Over the years, my wife Barbara wrote down the names of songs that she really liked. She would be listening to music while painting or reading or exercising, and when a tune came on that meant something to her, she would capture it on whatever little slip of paper might be handy.  She would ask me to take those songs and add them to a CD (we dated in the early 90’s, so that’s what we did!) or in later years, a playlist. I did a good job keeping up until the last couple of years.

Several months ago, I gathered up the remaining little slips of paper with her musical gold on them and placed them on my bedside table. I was going to make one final playlist of her favorites. I kept putting it off because I knew it would be emotional. Last night, however, I looked at those pieces of paper and decided it would be the perfect way for me to spend this morning – Valentine’s Day. The second without my Forever Valentine.

So, this morning, that’s what I did. It was emotional, yes, but also fun. I’ve mentioned in this space before about how important music was in our relationship, and how eclectic our respective musical tastes have always been. I was doing pretty well until God decided to speak to me about one particular song. My process had been: search for the song, click on it, it would start playing, and I would add it to the “*Barbara’s Faves*” playlist, then search for the next song. I would hear maybe 10 seconds of the beginning of each piece.

Until THE song came on. The one where God said, “Listen to this one! And read the lyrics. Read them as if she’s speaking them to you now.” And so I did. And I proceeded to receive the best Valentine’s Day gift I could ever have received today. It was as if Barbara was speaking to me from Heaven and telling me things she wanted me to know. Right down to the very last line… “I will love you until the end of time.”

I was undone. What a gift. What a blessing. What an amazing answer to prayer.

Now, I suspect – and admittedly I’m generalizing here – the women reading this are thinking how sweet this moment must have been. And the men reading are thinking it’s all very sappy. Well, listen to me clearly men, and anyone else thinking along those lines, get over yourself! If you can’t get a little sappy about the person you’re supposed to love more than anything or anyone, save God himself, well then, maybe you need to rethink your life choices.

If you’re married, there will come a day when one of you will leave this earth (hopefully to be with Jesus), and one of you will be left behind. If you’re the one that leaves first, you want to make sure you make memories while you can, to leave behind for those who remain here. You’ll want them to know how much they were loved. You’ll want to make it easy for them to remember you and think about you.  

And if you’re the one who remains, you’ll want to know you loved them well while you could. That you took nothing for granted while you were still here together and that you made the most of every moment. You will want no regrets. Trust me. You’ll want these things.

You may not want to think about this sort of thing now. “We’ve got plenty of time!”, you say. Well... Do you?

I spent a good part of this afternoon with some widows from my church. Some of them, and their stories, I know very well. They would agree with me. They treasure having the confidence of knowing how much they were loved by their husbands. And they are not haunted by wishing they had done things differently, or that they had missed opportunities to love. Perfect? Of course not. Do they wish they had more time with them? Absolutely! We all do.

Back to the song. After I finished creating the playlist, I planned on making a visit to the cemetery. “Barbara’s Spot”, as I call it. On the drive I thought it appropriate to listen to her new playlist. I selected “shuffle mode”. There are 30 songs in this list. Which one do you think played first? Of course! I got to listen to “her words” to me again. God. Is. So. Good.

So, for this Valentine’s Day, make it a point for yourself, and your spouse – or future spouse – to live every day like it’s Valentine’s Day. Not to promote a somewhat contrived commercial holiday, but to let every day be the day they know how much they mean to you and how much they are loved. You won’t regret it.