“It is joy unspeakable and full of glory… and the half has never yet been told!” – anonymous hymn
I've been studying. Dangerous I know. :P And I've been wondering…
When did Valentine’s Day become SAD day?
Just look at it. It screams “DEPRESSION” complete with neon stop lights. It screams a lot more too, but more on that later. When I was a kid, a dear older relative made pretty cards out of doilies with me and some of my friends got candy – one girl even got roses from her daddy. None of us ever felt incomplete or unhappy. But now we've gotten mature and we declared it a sad day. Unless of course you have somebody to hang on that gives you chocolate. (Is it just me or is certain red-dyed candy that’s fashionable around this time so fake looking it’s disgusting? Yes, that’s a run-on. I forewarned you I’d been studying. :P)
I know, I know. You’re wondering if I know what SAD stands for. Yes, I do. Single AWARENESS day. That’s the real reason it bothers me actually. It’s like if you’re single then you must make everyone aware of it, because you’re so sad. Why else would the acronym spell that word instead of something else? That's the part that gets me when people ask me what Valentine’s Day holds for me. Here’s a typical conversation to illustrate my point.
Anonymous: “So, I’m going out with {insert their special person’s name}. We’re going to do ___, ____, and ___. I’m going to give them ____.”
Now what I’d like is if we could just keep talking about the fun and all the little particulars. Unfortunately it always takes this turn:
Anonymous: “So what are you going to do?”
Me: “Well…. (pause because you know exactly what’ll happen after you answer) got a big test coming up and some tight deadlines. That’ll be my day. Maybe spend some time with family in the evening. The Olympics are on you know and we enjoy watching them together.”
Anon.: “Aw… {insert overly dramatic look of pity}… another SAD (pronounced SsaaaAaaaaaddD) day for you. Well, don’t worry. You’ll have somebody someday.”
They’re probably right. But in the meantime I have no intention of moping and flaunting my “SAD” status all over everything.
(We won’t even cover the scenario where the convo degenerates to this: “Maybe if you wore a shorter skirt or tried ___ flirty technique. Or tell you what? Why don’t I find you a date?”)
I’ll be honest. I like flowers. February is a dull, dreary, rainy month. Some excitement would brighten it. But, to continue the flower analogy, I don’t find my identity in the fact that I have or don’t have flowers arriving at my door. Nor will I ever find any joy in bickering over whose bouquet’s bigger. Nor being disappointed when so and so’s is bigger… Yes, when people do that it gets on my nerves like few other things… but I’m totally digressing. Not that I never promised not to, but that’s a different story *ahem* diversion in this case. :P
Bottom line: a FB status of “relationship” or “single” is not the basis of my identity or joy. Christ is.
So before the next person jumps to the conclusion that February 14th is going to be a “sad/SAD” day for me, I wish they’d stop and think about how great my life is. Not because it’s flawless, or stressless, or whatever. But because I have a great Lord who is the foundation and cornerstone of my identity and joy. Christ is the immeasurable, unconquerable joy. It doesn’t matter if we’re unhappy or struggling. One thing will always give us joy and that is very simply – God. No, I’m not preaching at anyone but me. I’m preaching to the girl that clutched her throat in agony and yelled at Him to stop the pain. I’m lecturing at the girl who’s crumbled when someone she trusted stabbed her in the back. I’m screaming at the kid who cried like the world had stopped turning last year when someone dear to her died. Because even in those moments if I could just find the strength to start praising Him, I could be joyful. Was I happy? No. I was hurting obviously. But there was an “unspeakable joy.”
The same goes for identity. There are things that I relate to that make me, me. There’s stuff you relate to that makes you, you. GPA, acting skills, sports ability, friends, whatever. But sometimes those things crumble. Sometimes, we’re stripped of it and left a broken heap in the mud. But the core of God’s children’s identity can’t be taken away because it’s simply Him. Do not we pray to become less so that He can become more?
So… I have 10x better things to do than sit and mourn my FB status. I’ve got the joy that made Paul and Silas sing in chains. I’m identified with the King no matter how much dirt I’m crawling in. And so do you. :D
And now excuse me. I have some Romantic era poetry to cram into my head (yes, even the school system is rigged :P), a student body initiative to plan, and a friend I want to ask how her Valentine gift we were brainstorming earlier is going.
