In case you haven’t noticed by the boxes of chocolates and flowers everywhere, today is Valentine’s Day! (So, if you haven’t ordered those flowers for your wife, yet…you’d better get on that.)

Sometimes, Valentine’s Day gets a bad rep because a lot of people will say, “It’s a corporate holiday. It’s just so all of these stores can get their sales up.” Whether this is true or not, you can see the love in everyone. People are kinder to others on this day. More people are holding the door open for others. More people are offering to help that older gentleman carry his groceries to his vehicle. Just take a second and really look for it. I promise you’ll notice it.

What gets me is, the day after Valentine’s Day, we all go back to our old habits. Rushing around, not worried about that elderly man who is struggling with his groceries, not worried about the person behind us that’s about to have a door slammed in their face…. We are simply focused on surviving.

Maybe you want to show love to others every day, you just don’t know how to go about doing so. Luckily, the Bible gives us PLENTY of examples of how to make sure we are continually loving others.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” –1 John 4:7

“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” –Galatians 5:14

However, my favorite reminder is 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

When I was younger, I had a devotional that said, “In order to keep yourself accountable on loving others constantly, remember 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Every time you see the word “love,” replace it with your name.”

So I would remember, “Haleigh is patient and kind. Haleigh is not jealous or boastful or proud. Etc.” That helped me SO much in my journey of creating a daily habit of continuously loving others.

Remember, Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be the only day where we show kindness to others.

-Haleigh Marie