Cakes, Flowers, Love and Valentine :)

Hellooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have the cakes, flowers, Teddy Bears and the red-y stuff started arriving? There are so many shows coming up this period, some goes for like N 500,000 Or N 1,000,000….And it’s all for love or is it?

Yesterday, I had this discussion with my boss ‘Hey, Mr. B, so what will you be getting your wife for valentine?’ and he replied, ‘Ah!! Valentine is for young people, me and my wife celebrates our love everyday, not on a special day. She’s always close to my heart.’ And I was like, ‘wow!!!!’

There is something about ‘Old’ Love :))

Well, why are we celebrating valentine then?

Been looking for the history of valentine and trying to figure out what the hype is about. History.com, Wikipedia, etc has so many theories on its history. One of the many legends that intrigued me was this story…

“Saint Valentine was a priest of the early Christian faith who lived in ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. At that time, 14 February was treated similar to a public holiday to honor Juno, the celebrated queen of the Roman gods and goddesses of women and marriage.
One of the customs associated with the celebration was to write the names of girls on slips of paper and then place them in containers. Boys of the same age group were then invited to pull a name from the container and the girl drawn would have to accompany him for the duration of the festival. The partnership could last up to a year. It was a method for youngsters to meet ‘legally’ as there were strict rules about them meeting otherwise. This partnership gave them the chance to develop a loving relationship, which could later turn to marriage.
Under Claudius, Rome became involved in violent and bloody campaigns which affected many young men of military age. Because of the custom involving the young men and women, Claudius took drastic steps and banned all engagements and marriages. His reasoning behind these extreme measures was that he felt that young men were reluctant to leave their wives or sweethearts and go to war. 
Saint Valentine, with the help and support of another man, Saint Marius, began to perform secrete marriage ceremonies for those wishing to marry. Eventually, knowledge of Valentine’s activities was brought to the attention of Claudius. He ordered the immediate arrest of Valentine, and thus he was placed in prison. After being brought before the authorities in Rome, he was sentenced to be clubbed to death, after which he was to be decapitated. According to tradition, while he was awaiting his fate, young people would throw flowers and notes of encouragement in through his cell window. 
Another story relates that the jailor’s daughter continued to visit him prior to his execution. She was blind and through his prayers, her eyesight was restored. Seemingly on the eve of his execution, he wrote a note thanking her for the friendship and loyalty; and supposedly signed it, ‘Love from your Valentine’. The following day, 14 February 270 AD, the sentence was carried out (some sources indicate the dates 269 and 273 AD). Thus Saint Valentine’s Day was born; he is the Patron Saint of Love, Young People and Happy Marriages.”

Source-Galway Independent

I love this story ‘cos I think Valentine goes beyond romantic gestures. It’s about the fight for True Love and great friendships.

Tomorrow, everyone is expecting some gifts. Cakes, flowers, and Teddy Bears (I hope to spend the day on Skype, talking to my BF in faraway Canada...But we do that almost everyday ^_^.)

Sometimes, I feel like Feb 14 has been set aside to shower love on that special person. But, is love a one-day affair? 

The way I see it, just because he sent a cake to you or you had sex with her doesn’t mean they love you. If that Legend was true, then it means Saint Valentine ensured that 2 people in love got married. But is it love to be married and then after 72 hours you get a divorce?

I guess the whole point of Valentine is to promote true love and true love goes beyond spending just one day with someone.

It’s about being selfless. It’s less of you and more about the happiness of someone else forever.  True Love is being like GOD because He is LOVE.

God's love is so amazing. He let His Son die for us so that we can be friends with Him. I see how my mom acts when any of my sisters is ill? She’s would be so worried and sleep at the hospital even if it’s not necessary. Imagine, THE DYING PART. Ah!! that's like killing her too.

But God allowed Jesus die for us. His love for us is just so extravagant.

That’s the kind of love that should guide us as we celebrate this season. Loving others not just for a day but for forever. Loving others like you love yourself and like God does.

 *********************

A close friend of mine and I had an early Valentine day outing at the House of Gold Hospice last weekend.

It was fun with them. It was heart-breaking wiping tears off Kolade’s face and telling him, everything will be Ok. We loved playing 'Catch' with victory and Ebuka is the naughtiest boy ever (Don’t know where he gets His strength from. He’s super energetic and just had a heart surgery). And the girls couldn't stop playing with my braids. Hehehehehe #wonderfulmoments :))

So happy to see my 'hardcore' friend, Duke Keata, Smile, Yayyy. The power of kids and happiness :))

The kids were awesome and even though they had some sort of disability, they showed me in more than many ways that life is beautiful. It depends on how you chose to see it and live it.

Oh Kids!!!!! :))... Me. Duke, Ebuka and the girls. We were only allowed take pics with these 3 amazing kids. The other angels were asked to stay back. #hospice-policy. But I'm grateful to God for this memory...Yayyyy!!!!!!

It was a beautiful day and I am so hoping to be there this weekend by Gods grace. ~Fingers crossed~

Remember there’s more to valentine than the gifts and cakes and flowers and having a touch of 'RED' to our attire. There's more to the whole commercialism associated with Valentine day.

It’s a celebration of love....True love....Lasting Love....

Song of the day- Emeli Sande; My kind of Love

Big Hugs.....

Thanks a billion for reading ;))