Roses Really smell like Poo-oo-oo-oo

On Saturday, Carrie and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary. Pretty impressive that she would stay with me that long. However, the proximity of this date to Valentine’s Day puts us in an interesting quandary. Do we celebrate both or not? Well, I made it clear that I will not celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is not that I am an old fuddy duddy, or that I am not romantic, but I have come up with the following reasons:

I will not let society dictate to me when, how, and in what ways I “should” show love to my wife.
I will not be railroaded into thinking that I am less of a person, man, or husband because I do not buy into their propaganda.
I do not think that overpriced chocolates and roses are necessary for love.
I do not need a contrived holiday to remind me to show love to my wife—it is an ongoing process that happens each and every day.
I do not need to be told that I must do something special for my wife on this day, when I do special things for her on other days.

With this reasoning in hand, my wife and I have made the decision not to celebrate Valentine’s Day. And we are better for it, especially financially. That picture of roses was taken by me yesterday. Instead of paying $40 for a dozen, I paid $10 for 2 dozen, and they are some of the most beautiful roses ever. How did I get such a deal? I bought them on Saturday when the place was doing anything to get rid of them. But I digress.

Anyway, in the context of the holiday and everything, the verse from 1 Corinthians 11:26 came to mind: “For whenever you eat this bread or drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” We normally hear that verse used at communion at the set time on Sunday morning. But I think that misses the point.
Whenever we partake in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are proclaiming His victory. Whenever we take up our cross and follow Him, we are proclaiming His death and resurrection.

Just as my love for my wife will not be contained and relegated to a set time and practice, our love for our Savior should never be confined to just Sunday. It is an ongoing proclamation of Christ’s sacrifice, and that sacrifice that demands a response of love from us. Sure, Communion is included in that, but it by no means ends there.

May our love for God be shown regularly and in spectacular ways, unencumbered by tradition and not dictated to us by the world.