Hello old friends, new followers, and fellow bloggers-

Happy V-Day Loves!  Today has been a great day so far:  full of sweet surprises and lots of intentional love.  Even though today marks another holiday where we compare and spend way too much money, there is something really sweet about expressing love.  When I see couples express their love for one another, I smile hard and get all sappy because it fuels my hope.  Days like this if approached well can fuel hope because that is exactly what love does- it builds hope. So, my dears I am full of hope and feeling all of the love today.

So…like many of you know, red roses are my favorite flowers.  I know they are the cliche V-Day flower but I love them all year round.  I love flowers and if I’m feeling down, I’d buy some flowers.  Fun fact:  I’ve never had someone buy me flowers.  My father usually buys me chocolates, bears, an education… you know things of that nature.  Well today, I woke up to a dozen long-stemmed red roses.  It was such a sweet gesture, I almost cried.  Those roses in combination with a plethora of gifts were so thoughtful and intentional.  And that my dear is the love I believe we are all entitled to, a love that is thoughtful and intentional.

I remember thinking that to desire thoughtfulness and intentionality in my love relationships was to desire too much.  For the longest, I was in love-relationships that did the bare minimum.  They did not exude any type of effort and was not willing to go the extra mile, yet they professed with confidence that they loved me.  That my dears is not love.  Love is thoughtful and intentional.  It thinks about likes and dislikes.  It awaits with pleasure as it watches for joy to fill the other person.  Love is more concerned with the well-being of the one loved than itself.  Love is not self-seeking or boasts of its own accord. Love is pure and kindhearted.  It is something that if given in abundance, can heal a person better than anything in the world.  Love is powerful!  Therefore, to be loved well is not asking for too much.  In fact, I encourage you to ask away!

The way I was loved today healed the parts of my heart that lost hope, the parts that were stuck in disappointment.  My family and friends demonstrated what it meant to love well and to be loved well!

If you’re single, do not be dismayed.  It’s a beautiful day and time even for you.  You are enough, you are loved and you are worthy of thoughtfulness and intentionality.  Do not settle for lazy, haphazard love. Do not settle with sharing holidays with people who do not care about you.  Do not settle to sharing a meal with someone you find no interest in.  Receive all of the love around you and bask in the goodness of God seeing you, knowing you and loving you anyway.

You are loved.

Xoxo,

Simone