All We Need is Love

1 Corinthians 13:
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres . . . . 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. . . . 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I love romance, but to me love is not expressed by buying frivolous items (especially when one can not afford such attrocities). Our materialistic society has made yet another holiday which has people declaring their adoration in mass droves with flowers, cards, candy, jewelry and the like. It seems so trite to expect our significant others to bestow gifts on a holiday largely created by business owners looking to cash in on our insecurities.

I don't mind giving the kids a box of chocolates and saying an exra "I Love You" to my husband, which you can never hear too often, but why is it that people, specifically men, think women want a bunch of random gifts, none of which are actually from the heart. They go with an ideal that has been set in their minds by the masses - that love must be purchased. So, maybe I'm one of the few women that actually says what I mean and means what I say, but when I say, I don't want anything on this commercialized holiday, I really don't want anything.

If you want to prove your love for someone, give them the precious gift of your time. Acts of service, telling someone how much you care for them (in your own words and not some generic Hallmark card) - none of which cost a dime but show that in your taking the time to truly appreciate someone you are giving them the best gift of all.

Don't get me wrong, I think flowers and chocolate are great, but not on this set day when everyone proclaims their undying love for one another. It's as if we've subscribed to some cult where no one wants to be outdone so they naively flounder for whatever trinket they can get their hands on. What we should be doing is loving one another EVERY day, not just taking one day out of the year to go overboard. Romance is like exercise - you have to take time for it every day. Just because you miss a day here and there doesn't mean putting in an extra hour on one particular day is going to make up for the neglected time.

All we truly need is love, but the kinds that comes from the heart, not from our wallets.