Have I ever written a post regarding Valentine’s Day here? I don’t think that I have, but I don’t recall. The topic seems like one of those that I would avoid on purpose as far as my blogging life goes. It’s just one of those “everyone else is doing it” things that tends to turn me off.
Still, I witnessed something profound today, and it bears mention. A small moment of about ten minutes that deserves reflection, because, like a good poem, it completely alters one’s perspective if we give it some of our time and look past the surface. That profound event? A colleague received flowers at work.
Not just “flowers,” mind you. This girl was the slightly embarrassed, but altogether giddy, recipient of a dozen roses, so red that they seemed to flare from the screen of life in technicolor. She was nearly in tears. She squealed in excitement. She snapped photos and sent text messages.
I grinned and went on with my day.
I’m a bit bothered, though, that I went on with my day. Valentine’s Day has always been a serious celebration for Karen and I, because our first date was on Valentine’s Day. Since we married, we’ve celebrated today with more fervor than our anniversary. This has just been a very special event to us. This year, life seemed to explode…not in a bad way at all, but things have just been hectic. A sad truth to life, be it in romance or our daily communion with close friends and family, is that there’s nothing like a hectic pace to kill tender expressions of affection.
The reason it’s sad is because our culture prizes the hectic pace so highly as to worship it and expect it. Yet, love of any type, be it philia or eros, or perhaps especially agape, tends to give rapidly as humans crumble under the very inhuman demand of multi-tasking.
I’m drawing a metaphor here. At first blush, this is, in fact, a post about how upset I am with myself that I let Valentine’s Day slip by me this year in the business that drags down relationships even as it propels them forward. I am, in fact, upset with myself. Beyond that, however, I want to re-discover that type of thrilled emotional swooning that I witnessed in my colleague today. I don’t just want to re-discover it in my marriage (a union that is about so, so much more than excited emotional states), but I want to re-discover that zeal and anticipation of all the positives that lay ahead. I want to re-discover that in other friendships, and I want to re-discover that in life pursuits.
I don’t think it looks like what we might think. I think it involves being much less concerned with how things affect us than we are about how things affect others. I’m so bogged down right now, I’m not even certain I know what that means. I just know that I’m motivated to find a passion to which I’ve grown numb in many areas of life. I wish the same for you.
An odd Valentine’s wish, but a well-intentioned one, nonetheless.
Photo Copyright by Austin-Lee Barron. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
A noble wish indeed…I hope you find it.