February 14,2001
..
                        Every February, across the country, candy, flowers,
                        and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the
                        name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint
                        and why do we celebrate this holiday?

                        The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint --
                        is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February
                        has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's
                        Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both
                        Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

         Not Like it Used To Be

         February 14 is Valentine's Day. Although it is
         celebrated as a lovers' holiday today, with the giving
         of candy, flowers, or other gifts between couples in
         love, it originated in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to
         St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop.

         For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of
         Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan
         celebration in mid-February commemorating young
         men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The
         celebration featured a lottery in which young men
         would draw the names of teenage girls from a box.
         The girl assigned to each young man in that manner
         would be his  companion during the remaining
         year.

         In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery.
         Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they
         drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too   pleased with the rule changes.
  Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in AD 270 had been beheaded by  Emperor Claudius.
 So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient
  rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named
  Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that
  Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When
 Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with
 wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young, single men -- his crop of
 potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius
 and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's
 actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Other stories
  suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians
 escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.
 According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting
  himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl --
 who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement.
   Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From
 your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind
 the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a
 sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by
 the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and
 France.
Valentines Day customs.. We send cards, candy and flowers to those we love on Valentines day. Here are a few interesting thoughts about the roses:
 Whatever its origin, the rose is undeniably the best-known symbol of beauty and love. It is
 common knowledge that red roses mean I love you. A dozen of them makes the ultimate
 statement on Valentine's Day, a tradition surely developed by those who measure value by
  quantity rather than quality.
 Lesser-known nuances of meaning are attached to different colors and types of roses. If you're going to jump on the bandwagon and shell out the cash for your valentine, you'd better get the definitions straight. Red and white together mean unity, pink means grace and gentility, and yellow symbolizes joy. If you want to stir things up on
 February 14, send orange or coral roses to speak your desire. Burgundy will compliment your
sweetheart's unconscious beauty .
  . Sweetheart roses are for couples who like nicknames, as they mean darling, dear, or
  honey, but if you call each other "babycakes," they should still do the trick. A single rose
 signifies simplicity, a nice statement to make if your pockets are empty. And don't confuse
 white roses with white rosebuds; the first means you're heavenly, while the second warns that
 you're too young for love.
 
 
 

LOVE IS…………
Everybody knows that February 14th is Valentines Day..or LOVE day!! So Lets Think about Love for a few minutes here. Lets think of the importance of the word love..does it rate high on the list of things we need or low?  We need to establish wheather or not Love is worth the effort..is it a ten or zero?

What is love?

According to Websters:
Love is a deep and tender feeling of affection for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons.
A strong likeing for or interest in something.......
I decided that to determine the value of love I would ask other humans what love is to them.

I sent out emails to everyone on my contact list and got some varied opinions on what love is, I would like to share just some of those thoughts with you now.
 

Love is a feeling you have inside you.  You can't change it or the person to fit into your ideal.
Love is accepting that person for what they are, not who they are or what they could be.   You can't
buy love.  You can't borrow it.  It is inside you.  Others can't make you get it or feel it.  It is your
own feelings.                                   Christine
 

LOVE IS, a warm hug when things go bad
love is, having a friend when you need one
love is ,having a spouse you love beside you,
love is watching the wonder in a childs eyes.
love is ,being a grandmother and hearing the joy in
 your grandchilds voice because you are there
love is, having a warm puppy or cat waiting for you to come home.
love is ,knowing you are not alone no matter what.
                                                                  Pat

Love is when your eyes light up when you see (him/her) enter the room.
                                                                                         Jud

Love is never having to say "I love you"….Cliff
 

Love is support.
Love is having someone make coffee for you in the morning when they don't even drink it.
Love is holding hands
Love is sneaking glances across a crowded room.
Love is when the corners of your heart turn up into a smile.
Love is a touch, a hug or a kiss.
I could go on and on but I'm sure you're get plenty of other responses.
                                           Lyn

Love means caring!  Caring so much that you put aside your own
discomfort or inconvenience to make someone else more comfortable, or
more happy.  Love needs to be shared.  It isn't enough to just say that
you love someone.......people need to know that you love them.  There
are as many different kinds of love as there are people, but they all
involve giving .....the only hitch is.....you get back so much more than
you give!          Mush

Jud said we could answer the question about love on the Porch. Here are my
thoughts about love. Not so much about how love is exemplified but rather
the source. It is a great question and it caused me to think. It is a
question we should think about more often. Thanks for asking.

All love comes from God who is pure love. In God's wonderful design, He made
love part of our nature, a wonderful experience, and something so powerful
that we can not live without. He made this feeling of love so powerful and
yet so simple that we experience it from the most simple things in His
creation. The feelings of love when someone touches our hand, the love of a
puppy licking your face, the love when someone smiles at us, are all gifts
from God. When we experience His gifts of love we are getting a glimpse of
heaven. God made love the force that draws us to Him.

Unlike human virtues, the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love,
practiced to the extreme, can not be over done. These supernatural virtues
are the foundation of all our virtue. Among these the greatest is love. Love
is God's greatest gift to us.

Joe Dillett
 
 

Love is accepting a person as they are, and being a good friend. Sharing
with them in a time of need.     Connie
 

Love to me is, loving someone so much, although he is taken from you, and
still be able to go on in life still feeling his presents everyday. Love is
God, without God, we would not be able to love anyone.            Carolyn
 

Love is: A wonderful feeling of adoration. It is blind
and forgiving. Love is: 1 Corinthians Chapter 13
                                                                         Char
 

What is Love??

Well, when were are small children we are
taught that GOD is love! :)

Then as we grow older, we learn there is
more, too!

LOVE is LOTS of things really.

Family
Children
Friends
Health
Peace & Happiness
Dreams coming true (and sometimes just imagining dreams coming true)Love is staying together because you enjoy BEING together - in good times and in bad.
Love is a wonderful thing!!                     Debby
 

What is Love cannot be explained using words!  It is easier to say what Love
is not!

Love is Not a feeling in the chest or having the knees suddenly go weak.
Love is not just the opposite of hate - easily switched from one side to the
other, for when Love is there can be NO hate.

Love is a felt knowing that all has been well, all is well and all will be
Wel                               Murph

Love is t

             1.feel closeness just from the sound of her voice
             2.tell whats being thought just from an expression on the face
             3.know when you are kidding or serious
             4.just a hug will brighten any gloomy day
             5.can disagree and yet understand the others point
                                                                                              Lewis

No greater love is found than a person who would lay down his life for a
friend. I feel that goes for family as well. That is why when you express
love you give up all thoughts of self, and concentrate on the people that
you love.           Dennis

 Judging from what these people have to say about love I would determine that love is very important for us to have and to give, wouldn’t you?
Something else we think about when we think of Valentines day is..we see red hearts and white lace, am I right here?
Well I couldn’t find any so called meanings to go with this so I will give it one myself.. Maybe this will make you think a little differently about this….
Red Hearts, White Lace and Love………Jesus shed His red blood to cleanse out hearts and make them white..Therefore how can we have a valentines day, a day of love without thinking of Jesus and what He did for us..no greater love………
The love that God has for us greatly exceeds anything we can possibly feel for another human…
Think of a Mothers love or a Fathers love for a child, think of sweethearts love for their companion..that kind of love is really strong but it is nothing compared to the Love of Out Heavenly Father.
John 3:16………16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Who is the world? We are. The Human race. That doesn’t mean just a few people it means all people..God loved all people so much that He sent His Son to die for us. He looked down through the ages of time until the year 2001..he saw a wino laying in a gutter, passed out and oblivious to his surroundings and He said “I love this man so much I must do something to give him a chance of redemption.”
He saw the prostitute standing on the street corner and He said “ I love this woman so much I must provide a way of salvation for her.
He saw a group of  young adults in a smoky dimly lit room, stoned out of their heads on various drugs and He said “My love for these is so great I have to give them an atonement”
He saw a sea of troubled teenagers banned into Gang, one fighting and killing the other and He said “I Love these kids so much I have to show them there is a better way for them”
He saw the battered and abused children and adults and He said,” I love these dear ones so much I must let them know of my mercy , I’ll have to send a more excellent sacrifice “
He saw you and me and our children, our brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, He saw out neighbors and friends and He said “ I love them so much I will give the very best I have for a sacrifice so they can have a better life, so they can have eternal life..I will send my Son Jesus , He will willingly give his life so that these people may have a more abundant life”
Now God don’t put a lot of burdens on us but he did give us some commandments and a couple of those are pertaining to Love.
Matther 73-40
 
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
He loves us unconditionally, even when we are sinners He loves us..He doesn’t love the sin but he loves the person. BUT if we plan to make Heaven out home and accept the blessings of grace and eternal life we have to obey His Commandments. We have to Love God with all that is within us and we also have to love our neighbors as ourselves. That means we must be just as concerned for the needs of others, the troubles of others and the welfare of others, just as we are for ourselves.
There is nothing as hollow as the words “I Love You” from a heart that doesn’t mean it.
Have you ever had a person hug you and tell you they loved you when it just stinks of a falsehood? If we tell someone that we love them and don’t feel it in our heart that is a lie and another sin but we won’t go there tonight.
We do need to tell people we love them but You can tell a person you love them from now till doomsday and it won’t have any real effect until you SHOW them you love them!
I John 3:18
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth

We MUST love one another, it is a direct commandment for God.. We have no choice in the matter, if we want to make heaven out home we have to love everybody.. We don’t have to LIKE everybody, not by a long shot, but we have to love them.There is a big difference. You can dislike a way a person lives and acts but you still have to love them as a human. We are not supposed to treat them badly just because there are thing we don’t like about them..remember that LOVE covers a multitude of sin!

Not only is tha one of Gods commandments but Jesus told us in His own words in John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
NO matter where you go and who you rub shoulders with, if you are a true Christain you will show forth LOVE and the world will know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
When Christ lives within us we are going to show forth the love that abides with His indwelling.
 
Ephesians 5:2
2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
 
Romans 8:25-29
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shalltribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
 
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
 
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
 
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
 
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
 

1 Corinthians
Chapter 13
 
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
 
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
 
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
 
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

 
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
 
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
 
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
 
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
 
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
 
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
 
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
 
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
 
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
 
John 15:9-13
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
 
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
 
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
 
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
 
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
 
This Humble  Sparrow thinks the word LOVE must be just about the most important word in the world!
Love Makes the World Go Around, please help me push!!!!


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