If I’m being 100% honest, Valentine’s Day as an adult feels like a clever Hallmark marketing ploy designed to guilt us into buying cards, flowers and candy. Thankfully, Annah and I have never really been baited into it as we are both much more appreciative of the completely random act of love motivated entirely from the heart and not a date on the calendar. Nevertheless, I can still remember the excitement of Valentine’s Day as a child. I would spend an exorbitant amount of time constructing the perfect Valentine’s box for school and hand write 20+ cards with candy for my fellow classmates. While I was always pumped to hand out my Valentine’s, I was selfishly more excited to discover what I had received.
Our family has undergone many drastic changes this past year and as a father I can’t help but wonder at times; “Am I doing the right thing for my children? Are the changes having any impact on them? Are they going to resent me for my obedience to Christ?” To be clear, the answers to these questions wouldn’t alter our course, but those fears still creep in from time to time. I’m incredibly thankful that Kennedy is able to attend an amazing pre-school here at YWAM and is still able to build fun memories with her classmates. This Valentine’s Day, Kennedy was able to prepare gifts for her fellow students and was excited to take her heart embossed box to school for the greatly anticipated exchange. So anticipated in fact, that she began telling people “Happy Valentine’s Day” mid-January just in case she didn’t see them Feb 14th. At the end of the day she left with a bag full of goodies and couldn’t wait to show me all the special cards and candies she’d received from her friends. On our way back to my office we stopped by our mailbox to discover that Grandma and Grandpa had sent Valentine’s Day cards for her and her brothers. When we got back to the office she opened up her card to find a crisp One-Dollar Bill. Her eyes were wide in amazement and she immediately started naming off all the things she could buy with her newly acquired fortune. I just sat and listened and smiled (honestly just happy that she was happy)… but only a few seconds after she proclaimed that she could buy a kitten and name it shadow, she paused. She didn’t say another word for what felt like 10 minutes. She just stared at the dollar intently before lifting her eyes to me to say, “I think I need to give this to someone else!” I was not expecting that statement to come from her mouth. I asked her, “Why do you need to give it to someone else?” Without hesitation she replied, “I have everything I need, I think God is telling me to give it to someone else.” At this point I am seriously fighting back the tears… we proceeded to talk through who she thought God was asking her to gift it to and then we made a special note so that she could hand deliver her gift that would have otherwise become her new kitten.
In 34 years of life this was hands-down the greatest Valentine’s Day gift I have ever experienced. My baby girl recognized that while we may be missionaries and don’t have much, we still have everything we need. She understands that while fulfilling her “wants” might be nice, it is so much more important and rewarding to assist with someone else’s NEEDS! I am so honored to be on this journey with my family and thankful my children are absorbing so much about the true character and nature of our God despite all my faults and shortcomings. Praise be to God!!!