My husband and I have a sticky note on our bathroom mirror that says, “I love you forever.” On a daily basis we will each move it to our spouse’s side of the sink, when they are not looking. Sometimes we will put it right in the center where it will intentionally block the person from seeing their face in the mirror. Other times we might put it way up high, down low, to the left, or to the right. And it might also be straight up, upside down, or even sideways. We never know exactly where or how we will find it. But we do know that we are likely to find it on our own side of the mirror. This is just one small thing my husband and I do to bring a smile to one another’s face each day.

Small things like this bring contentment to our lives. It’s the little things, as they say. Unfortunately many of us get in a hurry, worried about our to-do lists, and small gestures like this go unnoticed. But if we take a look around and savor the special moments in our daily lives, then we will find a sense of happiness that wasn’t there before.

I chose to bring this up today because it is Valentine’s Day. Sadly I believe many people put too much pressure on this one day of the year. They expect a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, an elaborate gift, and a fancy dinner. While I do like Valentine’s Day as much as any other hopeless romantic, I don’t think it’s fair to put that kind of pressure on this one day. Instead I believe we should aim to treat one other with love and respect every day, with small gestures. We should try to find ways to make one another smile each day, not just on Valentine’s Day.

And the truth of the matter is this – no one is ever going to love us perfectly. Except for One person. When I think of the greatest love story ever told, I think of Jesus. Reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, we see how shocking human beings were from the very beginning. We continued to make mistake after mistake. And God knew we would make even more mistakes to this day. Yet God still loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us. Because God is Love. He can’t be anything but Love. He can’t go against His own nature. Someone asked me recently what love was. My answer? God is Love. He is the only one who can love us perfectly. So no matter how you spend this day, take a moment to give thanks to God, for showing us true love.

(Photo by estyzesty.)