It was Valentine’s Day yesterday. Like most of you, I have a complicated relationship with it—dreading it and rejoicing when it landed on a Saturday when I was single, basking in the little rituals of love when I was in a relationship and then getting stressed on how to show love in a unique way each year.
Social media doesn’t help as you see declarations of love from couples, giant roses and gifts of jewelry being received, online love letters being written in captions.
There was a part of me that was triggered—the part that’s sometimes cynical and envious and selfish. I resolved to take a break from my Instagram feed to escape this feeling.
And yet, and yet, and yet…
I saw a word from a book I was reading. The word was reverence. I wondered what would happen if I looked at my feed from that place.
And I saw how beautiful that there was a day that was made just for love. You are asked to feel it, to announce it, to be cheesy and sappy and gooey, without judgment.
I saw love in all its forms. There was the bliss of a newly-married couple, Galentine’s day dinners, the constancy of marriage, the love of family, the satisfaction of knowing the power of self-love.
Instead of feeling left out, I was grateful, to be a witness to love and its beauty, its vulnerability, its wonder. I saw what a miracle it is—how in this complicated world, two people can find and recognize their souls in each other. I saw grace weaving through our stories, binding us all, reminding us that we are here to love and be loved.
How would Valentine’s Day change for you if you looked at it with reverence?
