Every girl’s favorite holiday is fast approaching. Perhaps this February 14th will be your first with your new Beloved and you are already all a-jitter. My son proposed to his wife on Valentine’s Day, and when I was small my mother always gave us children a Valentine’s Day party or presents. No matter what kind or stage of your relationship, it’s a fun time to celebrate the ones you love.
What is not so fun is failing at these romantic milestones. I think this is maybe why, in most cases, we girls enjoy holidays like Valentine’s Day so much than our men do. I mean really, how many men do you know who are already looking forward with delightful anticipation to what they’ll get or do on Valentine’s Day? Girls see a hopeful opportunity for all their romantic daydreams to come true. Guys peer through that fog of daydreams hoping to see the mark they’re supposed to hit and feel sure they’re about to fail.
So, girls, let’s love our men well and not let them fail this Valentine’s Day.
The fastest way to failure is unspoken expectations. Rather than wait around and hope your man is the one man in history who knows exactly what his woman is secretly dreaming of and has it all planned out, communicate. Why not talk about what the two of you are going to do for Valentine’s Day? If you really want to go out for a fancy dinner, why not suggest a local? If you hate chocolate, mention it now! Don’t wait for him to surprise you will a big red box, only to be frustrated he didn’t think of the roses you wanted.
If you bring up the subject of Valentine’s Day plans and he says, “NO! Stop! I have it all worked out, and you’ll just have to wait and see!” then be excited for whatever he has in mind, not what you hope he has planned. So many times our men DO make romantic plans for us and we just don’t recognize it because they are the plans we would have made. As Rosie told Meg Ryan, “You don’t want to be in love; you want to be in love in the movies!”It’s so much sweeter in life to love the real man you’ve chosen, rather than the man romantic comedies and daydreams concoct in your mind. Enjoy the way he loves you, not the way you would love yourself I you were him! J
As in everything, give thanks. Be thankful for the good man God has given you to love. Tell him you’re thankful. Put his heart and mind at ease about your love and your expectations so that he truly will anticipate your Valentine’s Day together. Celebrate love, not fleeting romantic follies. Make your first Valentines the first of many sweet days, not the first test he has to pass. Be open and communicative, not shy and hopeful which could become manipulative and testing. Make Valentine’s Day one of his favorite holidays too.
Revel in the love story God is telling in your lives – not someone else’s, not from a Hollywood script, not in the perfect fairytale. This Valentine’s Day fall in love with your very own real-life love story. Make it the best story of your life.
