Once the store shelves were cleared of all the Christmas decorations, they were immediately filled with items for the next major holiday, Valentine’s Day. It’s incredible to see how prices are inflated on gifts of every kind just for this one day designed to shower love, gifts, cards, and flowers on those we care about. It’s even hard to get a dinner reservation if you haven’t planned ahead. All this in the name of LOVE! But what about the other 364 days a year, is love not just as important?

For some strange reason my mind went back to an old slogan of Coca-Cola that says “Things Go Better With Coke”. I sure was a proponent of that mindset! Coke and Pepsi were my drinks of choice until recently when I determined my health was much more important than enjoying a frosty coke anytime I felt the urge. However I think the thought came to mind because no matter what is going on in our lives, what challenges we face, what we’re striving to do, things really do go better with LOVE. I think that too often we think of “loving” as an action verb when we should think of it as a state of being. When we strive to talk in love, walk in love, and completely live in love our actions will consistently follow suit. I Corinthians 14: 16 of the Holman Christian Standard translation says it this way, “Your every action must be done with love”.

True love goes much deeper than a gift, romantic dinner date, red roses, or chocolate covered strawberries. All those things have a “shelf life” if you will, and the warm fuzzy feeling of the moment will soon become a faded memory. Being a loving person trumps giving in the long run because one’s level of giving or the ability to give will fluctuate simply due to life’s circumstances.

When we have to face the difficult situations in life, and everyday certainly can’t be a holiday, LOVE will be the answer and the balm that will soothe the hurts. Disagreements and arguments are a fact of life, but when handled from a basic core of love even the most complicated conflicts can be resolved satisfactorily. Being a parent is an indescribable joy, but raising children is not an easy job. The difficult task of punishment and chastisement is inevitable but when exercised in love it softens the blow. It is the hope of any good parent that eventually it will be understood that love is always the prevailing motive. Life with all of its ups and downs, good times and bad times, holidays and average days . . . ALL GO BETTER WITH LOVE!

“If I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love,

I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I donate all my

goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have

love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy

is not boastful; is not conceited; does not act improperly; is not

selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs;

finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth;

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures

all things. Love never ends.

I Corinthians 13: 1 – 8(a) HCSB