Beautiful Hearts

It is almost February, the month which brings us Valentine’s Day, and the celebration of all those ‘beautiful hearts’, in our lives. Valentine’s Day is for sweethearts, but it is more than that. Valentine’s Day reminds us of how special all of our beloveds are.

When we were children, we made Valentine’s cards out of red construction paper and lace. We delivered them to our classmates at school, and perhaps, to our friends and family.

I also remember making paper chains with red and white paper…not unlike the chains we made for the Christmas tree. These were ‘Valentine chains’, chains of love, with our beloveds names on the rings.

It came to me this January day, what a great idea those chains were. Each ring was a remembrance of someone who mattered deeply to us. In fact, if they made it onto your Valentine chain, they were pretty important people!

We all have those people God has given to us that ‘light up’ our lives. Valentines Day is the perfect day for list-making and thanking God for these very people. Either on a sheet of paper, or simply in your mind, it is a good time to thank God for each of these beloveds, one name at a time. They may be here with you, or they may already be in heaven. Love is love, no matter the location of the beloved.

Life can be very hard, and we all have our ‘blue moments’. Where would we be without the people in our lives who cheer us on, call to check on us, make us laugh when we want to cry, shower us with love all the time?

The people who love us are gifts from God. He wants to give us a taste of heaven; He wants us to know joy here and now. And so, He sprinkles our lives with our beloveds, friends and family that make life worth living. It is a very hard road when we try to make it alone!

When we go out into the world, we may sometimes feel very ‘ordinary’. We need to remember the ‘Valentine chain’ of beloveds that God has blessed us with. To them, we are anything but ordinary. What we do, and how we live, matters a great deal to them; our happiness matters to them.

Just as we made those paper Valentine chains years ago, there is always room to add more links. (This year I added two more rings; one for each of my new-born grandchildren.) All the rings matter, and if one link needs a bit of attention, we can fix that.

May February be a time when we remember our beloveds…from the tiny tots to the elderly. May it be a time for remembering that our ‘Valentine chains of love’, will last from now until eternity. It is a chain that can only become more beautiful with age; moreover, it is the legacy of a life well-lived, a lifetime full of love.

1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Linda Raha is a Christian writer who has kept a journal for a great many years. The journal entries are a mix of poems, reflections, and anecdotes on any number of topics. For Linda, the theme of the sea is a recurring one. Her love of the ocean and spending time there manifests itself in much of what she writes.
21 comments
  1. I love the idea of a Valentine chain that we continually add links to. ❤

    1. Yes! We are so very blessed. We can get weighed down by the problems in the world; but when we count our blessings, we come up on the winning side. It does not make the problems go away. It gives us a better perspective; with God’s help we can overcome anything!

        1. Amen!

  2. Very sweet post. Thank you.

    1. I enjoyed writing this one! 🙂 I almost forgot about those childhood paper chains from years ago! Sometimes, you look back and the years just unfold before you. All at once, you remember the magic of that time and place…so long ago, and yet, like yesterday.

  3. Linda, what a sweet idea. I can see my chain in my mind and how it had grown through the years. God’s grip – Alan

    1. That is the incredible thing…the ‘chain’ keeps growing. Each link in that chain of love helps make us who we are, and there in the midst of it all is God Himself. He is the author of love, and He has helped craft each and every one of the rings.

  4. I’d not heard of the Valentine chain tradition before. I’m glad to know about it and to be reminded to remember all of my beloveds on Valentine’s day.

    1. I like to think of Valentine’s Day as a day for all our ‘sweethearts’. That way, no one is left out. When I was a child, my father gave my mom a dozen roses. He always had a rose for me as well. It seems a simple thing, but it meant the world to me.

      1. Your father sounds like a very special man.

        1. Yes! I was so blessed with him!

          1. I was blessed in that regard as well.

          2. Parenting is no easy job! We were lucky! 🙂

  5. At age 78, my Valentine chain is lengthy indeed! But there is always room for more! Thank you for this beautiful image.

    1. You are blessed! May that chain of love keep growing for you always! 🙂

  6. Lovely post – I definitely think Valentine’s Day can be for all our loved ones 🙂 x

    1. 🙂 🙂 🙂

  7. what a delightful idea!

    1. 🙂 It is a happy thing to think about!

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