What is the big deal with Valentine’s Day?

I am fortunate to have a wonderful valentine in my spouse. She loves to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Valentine’s Day is no exception. I have been trained well over the years to know how to think ahead and find something nice, something thoughtful, which cannot be purchased at a gas station. Yes, I tried that and it does not work. Anyway, this is a fun little holiday which is tailor made for couples like us who do not need a lot of fuss to care for one another. We make it fun and focus our attention on the other.
However, as I look around, I see a whole lot of folks for whom this quirky little holiday is anything but fun and easy. I see folks who are in the midst of grieving the loss of a loved one. I see folks who are waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right and the only people they seem to run into are Wrongs. I see folks who are in relationship, but just barely. And the stress, or pressure, from such a holiday as this drives a wedge further between their feelings of hope and despair. I wonder about this Valentine’s Day stuff and think about ways to change things up.
One thing we can all do is to stop and think for a moment about the lives of the people around us. The people we live with, work with, and play with. Why not include them in the celebration by dropping by with a card, or flipping a carton of candy hearts on to their desk. Ok, be careful to not go overboard and be miss-understood, but you can do this with an open heart and thoughtfulness. If a conversation about loneliness or brokenness opens between you, then you have an opportunity to share your faith in a graceful and hopeful manner. And if laughter breaks out then you have won a great battle. If you are gifted in return with an opportunity to just listen, you are most blessed.
Maybe the big deal about Valentines Day is not about love as much as it is about friendships and relationships. Maybe the day is less about a dozen roses costing eighty bucks to get me out of the doghouse for something stupid I did which I do not remember and more about the sweet taste of a heartfelt thank you or a simple nod of encouragement, Either way, in my experience, chocolate also works pretty good. Now if they only sold that at the gas station.

The Garbage Person

Someone is designated as the “Garbage Person” in our Christmas celebrations. The task is simple, hold open a garbage sack and allow everyone to toss their wrappings into the bag. It keeps the mess in the room to a minimum and everyone has a little fun throwing wrapping paper garbage.
Just a minute before the paper was not garbage. Instead it was highly prized, yearned for, and waited upon. That which has become garbage was not the thing which was desired, yet it covered the very thing with celebration and joy. The wrapping has become garbage to us based on our need, or lack thereof.

Three things strike me about this whole Christmas garbage thing.
The first is a curious memory of my days before the “garbage person” when my grandmother would gently unwrap her gifts, fold and smooth the pretty paper, then save it for wrapping new gifts another year. In her quiet way, she found a gift even in the wrapping. Not only that, but she found a new year, another person, another Christmas in the paper. Nothing was overlooked, everything was sacred. I compare that to my childlike tearing away at the outside to find the inner “real” gift. How many times have I failed to see the gift within the gift? Can our garbage become more, even a blessing?

The second thought is the Christ as our garbage person. The incarnation of God in human flesh was for one purpose, to save us from our sin. The Messiah came to catch our garbage and is holding open the sack for us to throw all the stuff which blocks our path and clutters our world.
My friend Dean, who is the pastor of Glenwood Grace UMC, shared on January 3 the youth purposely filled the sanctuary with paper wrappings, garbage if you will. Then when it came time for Holy Communion everyone was asked to clean a place, a path of the garbage. Bring your garbage to Christ, even help clean the path for others, and then come and receive the free gift of life.

The third is to consider the Christ as the wrapping paper, the covering for a real gift of life. We may struggle when we see others throwing away the incarnation, the Christ child, wanting only the offered life of peace and joy. We feel the strong connection of the Easter passion week of knees bowing and gifts offered on Palm Sunday, while Friday finds the same crowds throwing away the Messiah.

It seems someone is always designated as the “garbage person” in our Christmas celebrations.

Winter Weather

I am being reminded that winter weather is fun, fun, fun.

When I was a child I wondered why folks went south for the deep winter months. ABC farmers we called them. (ABC stood for: Arizona, then Corn and then Beans.) Why would they want to miss all this wonderful snow and cold weather? I was serious.

I enjoyed the crunch of new snow under foot, the flock of snow geese overhead, the tracks of rabbits over the snow drifts. I looked forward to shadowed evenings in the barns bedding the animals deep with new straw. I found pleasure in lighting a cowboy stock tank heater full of cobs and wood scraps with a little kerosene while pumping water by hand. The cattle were so appreciative with their frosty beards and eyebrows.

It was pure joy to fill the truck full of square bales and run out over the hills of new snow stringing out those bales on that clean stark white table to the following hungry cows. As we stopped to watch and count the herd, a couple of broken-in-half ears of corn went to last years 4-H heifer, still a pet, almost a nuisance.

Supper tasted good, what ever it was, after being out in the evening air taking care of God’s creatures. Double gloves, coveralls, wool hats with ear-flappers, and five buckle-overshoes with bread sacks for liners were standard equipment. So was a heart open to the wonder of God’s creation all around us.

Yes, even now surrounded by melting parking lots and slippery streets I am reminded that this winter weather can be fun if I take the time to see the beauty.