Valentine's Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, a day to share our love.  The stores have aisles and aisles of heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, red roses, white carnations, and valentine balloons, candies, and rows of colorful cards to send to loved ones and friends on this special day.  Our mission office has been flooded again this week with boxes, gifts, and cards for the missionaries -- not as much as during Christmas time, but carrying important messages of love which the elders and sisters need and appreciate.




















I love Valentine's Day!  Other than Christmas and Easter, which are very special holidays because they center on the Savior's birth and His resurrection, Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays because they focus on love and gratitude. What's to celebrate about Ground Hog Day, anyway? On this Valentine's Day, I'd like to share a few personal thoughts about love.

I have learned that people come to love those they serve. Missionaries who forget themselves and serve others will soon learn to love them. They will be effective missionaries as their love is felt and reciprocated. Love is an automatic consequence of service. It happens in all human relationships -- missionary service, acts of kindness, church callings, and in marriage.  Most people, including missionaries, have a variety of concerns, worries, and fears, even anxiety at times. Yet Moroni tells us that "perfect love casteth out all fear (8-16)."

Many who serve faithfully in church callings are sad when released because they will miss those they have served, whether it was on a mission, in Primary, Relief Society, YM/YW or as bishop.  When your bishop, youth adviser, or Primary teacher says he or she loves you, believe them. They mean it. They love you because of the time they have spent serving you. Some of my dearest friends, those I love most, are a friend I baptized in high school and a young couple I met and baptized 55 years ago in Switzerland, including their children and grandchildren who have been lifelong friends.

Most young couples who "fall in love" and get married are quite sure that they love each other.  I knew I loved Pat when we got married, but the love I feel for her now far exceeds how I felt about her when we were engaged and newly married.  As I have learned to serve her, my selfish concerns have decreased, and our love has grown. We have learned that relying on each other while serving together as missionaries has deepened the love in our marriage and increased our capacity to love.

There are many great examples of love among couples in our South Jordan neighborhood who have been married for many years. As they get older, they show us how to care for each other with patience, kindness, and love. You can just feel the love they have for each other as their health begins to decline and the love, tender care, attention and concern they give each other increases.

There are also other kinds of love, not usually considered on Valentine's Day.

After Jesus was risen from the dead and dined with his disciples, he asked Simon Peter three times, "Lovest thou me?" Three times Peter answered in the affirmative, and each time the Savior saith unto him, "Feed my sheep."  (John 21:15-17).  He was talking about service. The Savior asked us to"love one another, as I have loved you" and told us,"greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15: 12-13).  It seems to me the best way we can come to know and love the Savior is to serve Him throughout our lives by the way we treat and respect others. 

I can't comprehend or understand how the Savior was able to take the sins of the world upon himself in Gethsemane and bear the awful pains of the crucifixion on Golgotha. I believe He was able to endure only because of the complete and amazing love He had for us, as well as His love for and resolute desire to do the will of His Father.  Consider also the love our Father must have for us, to allow His only begotten son to suffer and die for us.

I now think Valentine's Day ranks right up there with Christmas and Easter because of its focus on love. And the greatest demonstration of love we have is the love of the Savior, given freely to every person. He is waiting for us to trust Him enough to ask for His love and help.

To me, Valentine's Day is far more than chocolate hearts, cards, flowers, and balloons, though I love to send and receive cards and gifts. To the extent that this day causes us to think about others and to share love and kindness, and to remember the love our Savior has for us, it will continue to be one of my favorite holidays.

-- Don --