Surely, I know it is April, and not Valentines Day; yet, why do I entertain thoughts of Valentines on this beautiful April day? It is that season when we dream of warm, summer days, and everywhere spring has sprung in a marvelous way. The grass is greener every morning, and slowly, the canvas of blooming things has begun; like a painting where there was only charcoal etchings, the colors are now magnificent. Spring has burst into being, and so perhaps, it is the same with our hearts. Winter has lifted and like the birds that flutter, anxious to celebrate a new dawn, so too, do our hearts flutter. We have a case of the ‘April Valentines’.
You know you have a full-blown case of these ‘flutters’ when you do not want to come inside at the end of the day. The sky looks ever so much lovelier; you ask yourself if it has ever been such a pretty cast of pink and lavender. You long to sit in a chair and just feel the warm sunshine on your face. You have fallen in love with Spring yet again…it happens every year!
There is a magic to this time when all things are new. Springtime of the heart is a splendid thing. It is a time when we can dream new dreams and start again. We can put away our winter stories for now and make a fresh beginning.
In our back yard there are places on the hill where it is hard for the grass to grow. All the April rain helps a lot for the grass to fill in. By Easter, much of the barren places will be grassy once again. Every year, I am amazed at this seemingly miraculous change. The mix of sun and rain over time does the trick.
And so it is with us as well. We have our rainy seasons with aches and pains. We long to shed those barren places in our hearts where someone has left a bare space. Easter is just a heart-beat away; we rejoice in new life.
When I was a child, my father always gave me a rose on Valentines Day. It made me feel so loved, and so very grown-up. It seems a simple thing, and yet that rose each year meant so much to me.
May it be the same with us. May every act of love bring springtime to the heart of another. May every rose, every bouquet, every hand-written note we give, be a valentine that will bloom in memory from year to year. Our ‘valentines’ deserve the very best we have to give; the garden of life is blissfully full of flowers. We are so blessed; God, our heavenly Father has blessed us abundantly: abundant enough, to bless one another.
Second Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away, and new things have come.”
How sweet of your dad to bring you a rose 💞
It made me feel so grown-up. My father always gave my mother red roses. It seems a simple thing, but that solitary red rose touched my heart every time.