{ Love does (435) }

Have you ever heard the real story of Valentine?  The one about a person and not just the day?  It’s pretty amazing.  No, it’s not romantic in the way most of us think of the word but it is beautiful.  Back during the 3rd century there lived a priest named St. Valentine.  When Claudius, the ruling emperor of that time, issued a law that instructed that soldiers were not allowed to marry it caused some issues.

Love finds a way
Claudius assumed that single soldiers would fight better if they weren’t concerned about what would happen to a wife or children in their absence.  Of course this didn’t stop the soldiers from wanting to get married and St. Valentine risked his life to secretly perform the forbidden vows.  Young couple after young couple came to him for assistance but eventually he was discovered, thrown in prison, and tortured.

Eyes that truly see
Legend has it that while St. Valentine was imprisoned he prayed for the jailers daughter, who was blind, and she was healed. Due to this the jailer, Asterius, became a Christian.  Unfortunately, though Asterius tried to get him released St. Valentine was still condemned to death.  St. Valentine was martyred sometime on or around February 14th.  Before he went to his execution he wrote a letter to the lovely young woman who had been healed from her blindness and signed it “Your Valentine” thus giving us the popular phrase we now use on February 14th.

Love lives on
The myths surrounding St. Valentine teach us something incredibly valuable.  Love is sacrificial.  It gives of itself regardless of the consequences even to death.  Love isn’t always a pretty flowery thing but a crimson tide of life.  True love gives, true love does.  I hope you get a lot of valentines cards this year but I also hope you give a lot too.  Would you consider helping me spread a little love by giving just five dollars for the beautiful orphans in India?  You can read more here about joining in the delight of spreading love and the #4love14 campaign!

“That’s because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.” Bob Goff

UPDATE!!! $86,627.19  How fast can we get it to the $87K mark? 🙂  Also I got new pics of my 545 kiddos (the one seen here is from January) and I cried again.  My kiddos are just so beautiful and amazing….sorry not sorry for the momma brag.