Dear China Friends,
VALENTINE’S
DAY
Valentine’s Day is celebrated each year on February
14th. Although it is celebrated in many
countries it is mostly observed in the West, but it is a working day in all of
them.
Valentine’s day dates back to Saint Valentine who was
imprisoned for performing weddings for Roman soldiers. He is said to have healed the jailor’s
daughter. Before his execution legend
says that he wrote “from your Valentine” as his farewell to her.
Today, it is a festival celebrating romantic love by
sending cards, letters, flowers or
presents to express love for one’s spouse or close friend. Married couples might also arrange a romantic
meal in a restaurant or a night in a hotel.
Valentine symbols include hearts, red roses, doves, candy and winged
cupids with bow and arrow.
You may not be aware of it but the entire book of Songs
of Solomon (Song of Songs) in the Bible pictures what romantic love is like
between a couple. Below is a modern
paraphrase of their loving conversation by Eugene Peterson:
The LOVER expresses his love in these
words:
You’ve captured my heart, dear friend.
You looked at
me, and I fell in love.
One look my
way and I was helplessly in love!
How beautiful your love, dear friend—
far more
pleasing than a fine, rare wine,
your fragrance
more exotic than select spices.
The kisses of your lips are honey, my
love,
Every syllable
you speak a delicacy to savor.
Your clothes smell like the wild
outdoors,
the ozone
scent of high mountains.
Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret
garden,
a private and
pure fountain.
Body and soul, you are paradise.
The BELOVED responds:
My dear lover glows with health—
red-blooded,
radiant!
He’s one in a million.
There’s no one
quite like him!
My golden one, pure and untarnished,
with raven
black curls tumbling across his shoulders,
His eyes like doves, soft and bright,
but deep-set,
brimming with meaning, like wells of water.
His face is rugged, his beard smells like
sage,
His voice, his
words, warm and reassuring.
Fine muscles ripple beneath his skin,
quiet and
beautiful.
His torso is the work of a sculptor,
hard and
smooth as ivory.
He stands tall, like a cedar,
strong and
deep-rooted,
A rugged mountain of a man,
aromatic with
wood and stone.
His words are kisses, his kisses words.
Everything
about him delights me, thrills me
through and
through!
Read the rest of this romantic song in your Bible. Now go and write your own valentine to the
one you love the most!!
Your Friend,
Tom Atkinson
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