What I learnt this valentines-Plus 8 useful tips!

Good morning beautiful people

I hope that this blog post meets you well?

Today I’d like to remind us of the importance of appreciating, and celebrating the ones we love! I plan on keeping today’s post short and sweet! 😊

It’s taken me over 28 years to realise that Valentine’s Day is not just for couples! I’ve always known that one shouldn’t limit acts of kindness/love to ONE day, but recently my view on who should partake in valentines festivities has completely changed. February the 14th is a day for EVERYONE to celebrate. Why? Because EVERYONE is loved, and everyone NEEDS love! We mustn’t forget that showing acts of love to those we care about, shouldn’t happen only once a year.

John 3:16 ~ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

^^^ You’re someone whom God adores! (His love for you is so deep, deep enough for Him to sacrifice Himself so that you may live).

This year I was greatly convicted to put more thought into blessing those around me. I received two bouquets of beautiful looking flowers from my dad, and little sister (middle sister). Their thoughtfulness greatly touched me, and made my heart glad. They caught my off guard because I thought Valentine’s Day was a day I shouldn’t celebrate at this point in my life.

I believe that it’s important for us to remember that everyone has different ways of expressing love (different love languages), and we mustn’t deem someone’s expression of love as meaningless, simply because they don’t do things the same way we do! It’s also very easy for us to bypass a persons act of kindness merely because we don’t recognise it as love (it appears as foreign language to us). We should make it our prayer to become more open minded, sensitive, patient, and understanding towards others!

Ephesians 4:2-3 ~ Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

My top 3 love languages are quality time, words of affirmation, and acts of service, whereas my little sister’s love language is receiving gifts. In the past I would get annoyed when she’d often asked for things, but now I understand that gift receiving is her love language. It’s my goal this year to put more effort into practically showing my family members that I appreciate them. I desire to put more thought into my acts of giving. As believers we’re called to love others, and we’re encouraged to be selfless in our actions.

Philippians 2:3-4 ~ “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”

Here are some tips on how one can show love to those they care about, which don’t have to cost an arm and a leg, yet are still very thoughtful!

1. Leave them a note: I think it’s nice to wake up to a note that says ‘I love you’ or ‘I appreciate you’. You can be extremely creative with your notes by using coloured paper, or decorating your notes with glitter. You can stick the note on a bedroom door/bedside, or even on the fridge.

2. Hug your loved one: A surprise hug is always nice, especially if the hug giver isn’t a touchy feely person. A hug can equal a thousand words, and can help dissipate feelings of distress for the hug receiver!

3. Send a text message: You’ll be very surprised at how uplifted/encouraged someone can feel from receiving a text message. Your text to your beloved can come at just the right time! There are a lot of people feeling pretty low right now, so a friendly text message can go a very long way.

4. Call a sister or a brother: Sometimes it’s nice to hear a persons voice! We live in a tech savvy society, and just being able to converse verbally can be a breath of fresh air!

5. Leave them a surprise gift and hide it: I don’t know about you, but as a kid I LOVED playing hide and seek, and partaking in Easter egg hunts. And tbh, if someone told me they’d bought me chocolates and all I needed to do was find them, it would truly bring out the child in me, and make my day!

6. Cook up a treat: Cook a meal or make a smoothie. Since we’re in the midst of a pandemic, you could potentially package and drop off a cooked, or baked good to your loved ones home (without breaking social distancing rules of course).

7. Organise a games night: Have fun with your family, play a board game or engage in arts and crafts. If distance is a problem, organise a game night via zoom.

8. Surprise them with what they need: Help around the house, offer to do some chores, or purchase an item someone needs i.e. food or toiletries.

I hope that you could pick up a thing or two from today’s post. Remember that you are worth celebrating, and so are the people around you. Appreciate your loved ones more!

P.S. remember one should not give to receive, or give to out give! Give according to what you have, it’s the thought that counts. And you don’t have to spend like crazy in order to appreciate your loved one, something as simply as saying sorry first can make a persons day. Also giving your time to others is priceless, aspire to spend quality time with your loved ones.

2 Corinthians 8:12 ~ Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.

God bless

Love from

Christian Lady After God’s Own Heart