Valentine's Day (a short history)

A short article from the old "Harvest Times" newsletter I used to produce for home educators in the Bangor area. I debated adding more to it, it is quite short (there was limited spaced in HT), but I decided to leave it as it is, including the jokes at the end ~smile. I found the vintage Valentines on Pinterest.com. Aren't they great?

Valentine's Day, A Holiday of Love

by Penni Hill

Why do we celebrate Valentine's Day? Where did the customs we use today come from and when did they begin? There are several ideas of why we celebrate Valentine's Day the way we do.

Thousand's of years ago, February 15 was the day the Romans held a festival to honor one of their gods, Lupercus. It was a day of games, music and dancing. This was also the day the Roman’s had their “love raffle”. The names of young women were written on pieces of paper and put into a jar. The young men would draw out the name of their sweethearts for the coming year.

On February 14, 269 A.D. a Roman priest named Valentine was put to death for teaching about Christ.  In 496, Pope Gelasius named Valentine as a saint and made February 14 a special day to honor him.

Over the years we have combined many of the customs of these two holidays. Today, we consider Valentine’s Day as the holiday of love. We send beautiful cards of love, give chocolates and flowers, and have romantic evenings out. It is definitely a day for romance, but is romance love?

            1 John 4:7-10 gives us the definition of true love. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins."

This Valentine's Day, let’s remember the man for whom this holiday was named and why it was named for him. And on this day may God’s love through His Son Jesus Christ become real to you.

Valentine Activities (for children and families)

Make some Valentine cookies. Put them in a pretty box and take them to an elderly neighbor or someone you know who is sick. Be sure to include a Valentine with a verse from God’s Word on it.

Visit a nursing home and take along Valentine’s you have made for all the patients (call ahead for exact number). While there sing love songs such as “Love Lifted Me”, quote scripture or put on a skit that tells what love really is.

 

 

Study about the human heart. Draw a picture of what a real heart looks like and learn how it works. Learn how to take your pulse rate.

Do a study on chocolate. When was it first made? What exactly is it made of? What place in the world makes the most of it? Where do most of the cocoa plants grow that we get our cocoa from here in the USA?

 

Be sure to send your loved ones a valentine this February 14. Why not take this chance to let them know how much they really mean to you!

Valentine Jokes 

from the book "Valentine Fun" by Judith Stamper

1. How do vampires fall in love?

2. Which month has twenty-seven days?

3. What flower is used most on Valentine’s Day?

(Answers at the bottom of page)

 

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Olive.

Olive who?

Olive you.

Answers to jokes

1. It's love at first Bite

2. All of them

3. Tulip

Happy Valentine's Day!

Can you see me?

Sometimes we get so focused on ourselves that we don't really notice those around us. (I know I am guilty of this all too often.)

The following short little video is cute but has an awesome point to it:




Really makes you think doesn't it? Everyone is going through some sort of problem, crisis, or pain - whether a small thing or something greater. When I take my focus off of me and look around, I can see so much more clearly.  There is a world out there full of people with needs...

God wants us to:

be kind...

smile
ask how they are and mean it.

give...

not just money, but time. Real time.
Help someone,
show them a skill,
listen to their story.

share...

God's wonderful gospel! The hope, the life we have in Christ.

He is Tender

The latest "5 Minute Friday" writing exercise, done today which is Saturday, a day late. ~wink
From the website: "Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.
We write because we want to, not because we have to. We write for fun, for joy, for discovery.
We just write without worrying if it’s just write or not....Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking."

These exercises cause me to really stretch my thoughts... today's word is: 

Tender

Touched by His tender hand

Under the shadow of His wings

Loved...

Sheltered...

Protected...

It is amazing how tender our Lord is. He calls with a still small voice—He doesn’t shout at us or hit us up beside the head…. He tenderly calls us… “Come unto Me.”

Gentle...

Caring...

Giving...

He is so tender with me when I fail Him. He reproves me with love. The correction may hurt but through it I know just how much I am loved.

Sharing...

Reaching...

Showing...

He wants me to show His tenderness to others. Share His great love with them….to REACH OUT with His tenderness.. 

Oh how wonderful it is to know His tenderness… to feel His tenderness… to have Him sharing that tenderness to others through me (I am such an unworthy vessel!).

He is indeed...

Tender.

(The "He" of course is Christ. ~smile)

Why I like Facebook

I like Facebook - yeah, I do. I really do. ~smile 

I don't spend hours on Facebook each day. I play none of the virtual reality games that so many love, I merely update my status, check others, and play a word game or two. There are days when I spend more time on there, I'm sure, but mostly I just spend about 15 minutes or so 3- 4 times a day if I'm at home. It's fun. It's positive (I do NOT read or participate in gossip, drama, or bashing of any kind.) I consider it a nice little addition to my life. Here is why:

The Top 8 Reasons Why I Like Facebook (I know you are all just dieing to know!)


1. I'm quiet person by nature and it gives me a "voice". I can share little tidbits of my life, what's on my mind, etc. and others HAVE to listen! No, not really - they can freely and easily ignore me, hide me, or even unfriend me if they like.... but all the same I enjoy sharing little tidbits, a sentence or 2 several times a day.

2. Lexulous - If you are not familiar with it, it is pretty much the same thing as Scrabble. I love it. I have 3 games going nearly all the time and usually get a chance to play a word about 3-5 times a day. I love words and I love that game.

3. Getting in touch with old friends and family members. It has been great to get in touch with some friends from school and once again have contact with some of my family I might not otherwise correspond with. I love to look at their family photos, hear how and what they are doing. And it gives me opportunities to remember to pray for them which I might not otherwise have.

4. Staying in close contact with good friends and close family members. This is quite possibly my favorite part. I am not one to spend time chatting on the phone - matter of fact I almost never call anyone other than my sons, unless it is for an appointment. I seldom even call my very closest friends (I know, bad me.) Facebook gives me daily contact with many of those I am close with. I feel I am able to be a closer part of their lives, whether they are right next door or far away.

5. I can share Christ. This is a biggie for me. I am sure there are a number of my friends on Facebook who just can't understand why I like to talk about Him so much... as well, I'm sure there are friends who wish I wouldn't talk about Him at all. The thing is a relationship with Christ is like a great love story. I am in awe of how loved I am by Him and I honestly feel if I am silent the rocks would cry out the story of His love! He is amazing, wonderful, precious, so very good-- how can I be silent?

6. Blog updates, newsletters, etc.  Like a Bubbling Brook ,Our Simple Country Life, and  Challies.com are just a few. So much good information! I have been so blessed, learned so much, and have been edified by so many.

7. It gives me an opportunity to share what I write on here - A World of Loveliness- with my friends.

8.  And lastly but certainly not least...I can share a joke or cute story and at least imagine that someone somewhere is laughing at it. ~smile

Well, that's it. My top 8 reasons why I like Facebook. Now, I'm off to update my status and share this post. ~wink

Joy... JOY!

Source: google.com via Amber on Pinterest

Joy is much like happiness but deeper.

Joy is a funny thing. If we try to find joy (or happiness), it may seem impossible to find. In the searching for it, we lose it. If our one goal is to find joy for ourselves (to be happy), it will allude us.


And yet...

when we...

use the little acrostic..

J - Jesus

O- others

Y- you

WOW. There it is...


JOY! 

Our lives... lived in the proper perspective... will yield joy.

True joy = living for Christ, serving others and focusing on my needs/wants/desires last.

Everything within our human souls cries out just the opposite-- "What about ME?"

Yet, when I am last, then... joy, there it is. What a blessed little revelation.

It is not easy and I certainly can't do this all on my own, when I try do it in my own strength (which is all too often), it slips away. Only with Him am I able..
..moment by moment seeking to rely on Him...

Source: etsy.com via Annie on Pinterest

 Linked up with:

Think, think, think

While out shopping with a friend just before Christmas, I came across the book The Liberty of Obedience by Elisabeth Elliot at a thrift store. I looked it over but decided not to buy it. Later in the day we went to another thrift shop and there it was again... I figured I should buy it - maybe God was trying to tell me something!

I am so glad I did purchase it. Elisabeth Elliot shares great wisdom in this little book and I read several passages over and over.  E. Elliot has a easy to read, conversational style of writing. Each time I read one of her books, I feel as though I have had a little visit with her. This book is written in just this way. I greatly enjoyed the time I spent learning from her.

In the LoO, Elisabeth shares how she thought she knew what worldliness was before she arrived to teach the Auca people.  She was shocked when she first got there because the people were so friendly to her. She expected them to be hostile because they lived in a Godless society. She went to the Word of God to learn how to relate to them and share His gospel with them.

I love her perspective. Many times we get all caught up in what we think is "the right way" to do something (something we already know is good), when God gives no specific guidelines in His Word -- rather He is looking at our heart- the WHY of what we are doing rather than the "how".

"It appears that God has deliberately left us in a quandary about many things. Why did He not summarize all the rules in one book, and all the basic doctrines in another? He could have eliminated the loopholes, prevented all the schisms over morality and false teaching that plagued His Church for two thousand years. Think of the squabbling and perplexity we would have been spared. And think of the crop of dwarfs He would have reared!

He did not spare us. He wants us to reach maturity. He has so arranged things that if we are to go on beyond the "milk diet" we shall be forced to think. We must train our faculties by practice to distinguish between good and evil..." p. 84

"We shall be forced to think." I love that phrase... God doesn't want mindless, unthinking, zombies.... he wants thinking, maturing followers... people who choose to live for Him!

In the words of Winnie the Pooh, "Think, think, think."

How could anything be better than this??

^{We are so blessed to have the Bible. It strikes me with awe that we can read the very Word of God and know Him through it.}

^{John 14:15-21}

"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you,and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live,

ye shall live also.

At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and

I will love him,

and will manifest myself to him."

Isn't that amazing? When we know Him, He is in us, with us and loves us! How could anything be better that that??