Select Page

photo: Martha Grimm Brady

This year we will celebrate 43 years of marriage.  That’s a lot of valentine celebrations!  Of course, some have been more memorable than others but the older we get, the more special they become.

Today, I helped serve a Valentine luncheon for widows in our church.  Ron was invited since he had served as a pastor to many of them and the present pastors were there as well.  I felt privileged to serve today.  I knew the husbands of many of these women who are now with the Lord.

Because I was serving, I wasn’t able to hear all the conversations but here are some tidbits.  One lady was wearing a charm bracelet with romantic charms for special dates given to her by her husband…a valentine charm from 1968 (the year we were married!)…one from 1969 that I think she said was for their 20 year anniversary…and one that was her last valentine before he died.  Another lady was talking about her husband’s proposal (on Valentine’s Day).  The conversation was lively and pleasant.  Many were talking about their spouses some of whom haven’t been gone very long.

The meal was a pretty one in a lovely home on china with lots of girly touches.  One of our young mothers made some beautiful cookies to take home along with a beautiful pink rose for each lady.

Celebrating Valentine’s Day with a group of widows is a wonderful way to spend the day!  If you have never done it, I would recommend it.  It puts all the petty complaints we have against our husbands into perspective.  Does he leave his socks lying around?  (not one of my particular complaints).  What if he was no longer there to leave them?  I’m not trying to be morbid, but it does put our complaints into perspective, doesn’t it?

So today, grab your loved one and give him a great big hug!  He is here with you…for now.  He isn’t perfect, nor does he live with a woman who is!

Give him grace…as it has been given to you by Christ!  Choose to love him or her (if you are one of my few male readers).  God is in the business of changing people, but do you know where he starts first?  He starts with YOU!

This was originally written in 2011.