Clashing, or the Perfect Pairing?

Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday

Valentine’s Day and Lent. These two celebrations sharing the same date clashed in my soul like bad colors in a small space. “No, these two don’t belong together,” I gasped.

Happiness, mushy goodness, love, warm and fuzzy feelings of appreciation and attentiveness. Sweetness and kindness all mingled together. This is Valentine’s Day.

Darkness, a foreboding of doom, sadness that doesn’t leave, realization of all that’s wrong. Giving up, doing without, and mourning all lumped together. This is Lent.

I pondered this for days, now weeks since I realized February 14, 2024, is Valentine’s Day AND Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. I looked at it from all angles, thinking about it several times a day. I listened, attuned, hopeful I might learn through listening past the obvious noise into the inner stillness of my soul, to the One who speaks to me there.

And what did I notice? On my walk the next day, a tree, gray and bleak in the barrenness of winter, looking dead. I wonder if it might actually be dead, even though standing on the edge of the marsh, surrounded by green grass on sandy ground. “Maybe there just isn’t enough nourishment in this soil to sustain life,” I thought.

Then, as I walked a few steps further on the path, coming alongside the tree, I saw yellow flowers! A vine was winding around the tree and its yellow blooms stood in stark contrast to the bleak tree trunk. Beauty was beginning to cover the barren tree.

And it dawned on me. This is the perfect match up, Lent and Valentine’s Day. It mirrors God’s story of Love flowing with sorrow to bring life out of death, beauty out of grave-darkness. Lent reminds us we need a savior. Valentine’s Day reminds us that Love comes and saves and he stays with us.

Isaac Watts captured so well this pairing of love and sorrow in the lyrics of his hymn When I Survey the Wonderous Cross. I invite you to prayerfully ponder the words. And if you know the tune, feel free to hum along, not minding if tears fall. Mine are even as I type this.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross | Isaac Watts

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1. When I survey the wondrous cross
   On which the Prince of glory died,
   My richest gain I count but loss,
   And pour contempt on all my pride.

2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
   Save in the death of Christ my God!
   All the vain things that charm me most,
   I sacrifice them to His blood.

3. See from His head, His hands, His feet,
   Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
   Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
   Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4. Were the whole realm of nature mine,
   That were a present far too small;
   Love so amazing, so divine,
   Demands my soul, my life, my all.