Grandparents New Year's Eve photoHappy Valentine’s Day, Friends! I have to admit, I’ve always loved spending Valentine’s Day with my kids. Since becoming parents 21 years ago, there have been very few romantic Valentine’s Day dinners held on February 14th. We almost always plan a family night with fun activities. The two of us usually celebrate at a later date.

This year, since Valentine’s Day is on a Friday, we’ve decided to spend time with the kids during the day and then head out to a romantic dinner for 10. Yes, I said 10. We are spending the evening with some lovely couples where we will surely receive an abdominal workout from all the laughter shared amongst us.

Did you happen to notice the two crazy kids in the picture above? They are my grandparents. The photo was snapped during a New Year’s Eve celebration in 1948. I have it hanging on my wall. That picture represents pure joy mixed with crazy love. Somewhere, in a box packed away, there is another picture which was taken the exact same night. However, in the other photograph they were covered in confetti with their arms wrapped around friends. They were sharing love not just with each other but with people that meant a great deal to them.

After more than 22 years of marriage, I can tell you Paul and I have figured out how to live Valentine’s Day every day. I don’t mean our lives are full of long-stem roses, fine chocolates, and jewelry. Those are all nice, but none of them last.

What I’m saying is we spend each day loving Jesus, each other, and our children the very best we know how. Sometimes we make a complete mess of it, but we are faithful to our cause. We work to live a life of love. I said work because love is commitment and commitment takes work. (Tweet that.)

Listen, I know Valentine’s Day is fun. It gives us an excuse to breakaway from the norm and take time out of our crazy schedules to show we care. It is fun to celebrate with overpriced flowers and fancy dinners. It is; I admit it! (Did you read that, Paul?)

However, all week, whenever I’ve thought about today’s festivities, it has come to mind that if we all worked just a little harder to commit to live a life of love every day, we could make a ginormous impact in the name of Jesus. And He is the definition of crazy love!

When we band together we have power to impact others with crazy love.

Today, I want to give you some ideas on how to spread some love to the world…

Lisa-Jo Baker is planting a garden. She is using her platform to turn South Africa upside down with crazy love. You can find out how you can help here.

I have dear missionary friends in Thailand who run an amazing ministry and are working to build a home for women and children suffering with HIV/AIDS. To spread some crazy love in Thailand, click here.

If you are interested in giving back via a service project to whoever is on your heart, think about joining the #GoGive community. To learn how to Go Give crazy love, click here.

Today, I will be sharing love in many ways. To kick it off, I will be announcing the winner of Melanie Shankle‘s new book The Antelope in the Living Room! The winner is Heidi! I will be emailing you soon, Heidi!

Whether you are spending your evening with kids, a significant other, or laughing with friends, I hope you have a wonderful time!

Love,

Jennifer

PS: I’ve taken a little longer than 5 minutes to write today because of the pictures and links. I’m a rule follower, so I  had to disclose!

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