The retail world, I have come to find, lives on a different calendar than the rest of us. Here is what I have gathered. Each holiday seems to begin months before (6 months before when referencing Christmas) the actual date and ends the day after the calendar states according to the items stocked on the "holiday" shelves at most major retail establishments. Hobby Lobby and Walmart's infractions rank off the charts.
As a result, at the point that outdoor temperatures breach 100 degrees, walking into a retail establishment for coolant based relief brings you face to face with rows and rows of "Santa Stop Here" signs and strands of glittering tinsel in the middle of July.
The same can be said for most major holidays, each making a premature appearance. Valentines Day, however, doesn't have the same opportunity as the rest of recognized holidays. Christmas seems to encompass at least 6 months of the retail year and 90% of holiday shelf space. Subsequently, most retailer's are unable to stock their shelves with heart embellished material until a month before the calendar date of February 14.
Valentine's shelf life may be shorter than other holidays, but let me tell you, retailers more than make up for it. During my reluctant (I avoid Walmart at any and all cost possible) trip to my least favorite supercenter last week, I was greeted with an obnoxious display of red and pink the moment I reached the automatic doors.
Don't get me wrong. I love the color pink as much, or more, than the next girl, but during the months of January and February, Walmart takes it to a whole new level. Love was in the air. Literally. Oversized banners hung from the store's rafters printed with the word in every cursive font available in your typical Microsoft Office package.
It's unavoidable. Between retailers and greeting card companies, we are being told one thing. It's the season for love and more importantly the time to express it. Florists are flooded with orders for oversized boquets, and helium tanks run on low as America inflates their sentiments toward those they hold dear in their lives.
As Valentine's Day approaches, so do a vast range of emotions for many. Many approach a heart shaped box of chocolates with a glimmer in their eye, knowing exactly who they want to share it with. Others approach and purchase the same box of chocolates, not to share, but to wallow in what they don't have that society tells them they should. Either way, the chocolates are bought, and commercialism continues.
This commercial view of love seems to have two sides. Either you have it or you don't. You have found it, or you are looking for it. You either have that warm fuzzy feeling in your heart or a cold, half-eaten pint of ice cream sitting in your lap.
The majority seems to embrace this view and takes Valentine's Day as an opportunity to either showcase what they have or complain about what they don't.
Is Valentine's day bad? No. I'll be honest. I embrace and love any opportunity to bake a batch of sugar cookies and slip a few cards in the mail. However, I'm not so sure we are celebrating and embracing what love really is.
A recent Hallmark commercial caught my eye. It said, "Life's moments are meant to be shared." I think the same thing can be said for love. It's meant to be shared. Being made in the image of our Creator, we all have the ability and capacity to love and be loved.
Love doesn't have to be reduced to the presence or absence of a romantic relationship. Love encompasses so much more than that. Share a smile. Share a listening ear. Share your time. Whatever you have to give. Share love.
Whether we choose to recognize it or not, each one of us is loved by our Creator infinitely more than we could ever imagine. He loves us so much that he made the ultimate sacrifice so we could live.
And how do we choose to live that life we have been given? Do we complain, ask for more, and live in search of what we fear we are missing? Or do we embrace and recognize the love that is so freely given to us daily so much so that gratitude overflows into sharing this same love with others. Love is real. It's in your life, even if you don't see it. Love is not something that can't be defined through society's terms. Love is more than just a day on a calendar or weeks on a shelf.
Love is happening. Are you taking part in it or are you reducing its value to a box of mismatched chocolates on a disheveled super-center shelf?
Next week, as Thursday approaches, between all the conversation hearts, mylar baloons, and construction paper hearts, take the time to say thanks for the love in your life, love that can't be bought, the kind of love that comes from sharing the life that has been given to us as a gift. The love God has given to us and calls us to share is eternal, outliving any holiday shelf life. A friend in college once said to me, "Life is about loving people." I think she was on to something.
Live your life. Love. It's happening. Recognize what's already there. Go out there, and be a part of it.
loooooove this.
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