Valentines!

Valentine's Day back when I was a kid was way different than it is today. I am sure that each generation has it's own story to tell of how things were different back in their day...and of course the kids roll their eyes as these stories are told...I remember being the one rolling my eyes, now I am telling such stories!! Anyway, back to the Valentines.....When we had a Valentine's Day at school, for me it was not a pleasant day....I would dread it! I always felt a bit insecure and always worried that I was not good enough for anyone to like me. It seems like in every grade in school there was always a bully girl with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes who had everything that money could buy....these bully girls would tease me because I pretty much wore hand me downs and didn't have the prettiest hair...I was told I had a big nose and big ears and so on and so on and of course I believed all of it! I never thought that I would get any Valentines for this reason. You see, back then...the teachers didn't make every child hand them out to the entire class like they do now...it was a pick and choose type of deal. If you were liked, then you got a Valentine...if not liked, no Valentine! If you were well liked then of course you went home with a whole bag full of Valentines, candy,and  other goodies. If you were a loser and nobody liked you then you would go home virtually empty handed and brokenhearted! Thankfully now days, teachers have a bit more sense about how to handle this and make sure that every kid goes home with the same goods!  One such Valentine's Day that I dreaded, I actually was in for a huge surprise. I actually got more Valentine's than the blonde bully in my class and I remember being so happy and elated. I had someone who liked me! Not just one...but lots! And not just lots but more even than that blonde bully that had been so mean to me! It is strange how some of these stories come back to my mind sometimes but I was thinking on this how sometimes we get to feeling so insecure and unloved because of our "enemies" that we forget that we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother who loves us. God has given me a ton of Valentines to make up for all of those bullies! He does have a way of giving back to us all that the enemy steals away from our lives...I am so thankful for the love that He has for me that He shows me every day:

With Him it's Valentines Day every day!