Bare trees with a new day dawning....

Day 107 post Barbara:  First time in thirty years, I don't have a  Sweetheart to show an appreciation  of love to... but I do have my family and friends whom I consider all of you to be. The purpose of  St.Valentine's Day has always been to let those we care about know that we love them....something we should be doing every day as was exhibited in the life of St. Valentine...see his brief history below:

Valentinus, a priest in Rome and a physician, was beheaded there under
Claudius the Goth on February 14 and buried on the Flaminian Way, where a
basilica was erected in 350. On the same day in the Roman Martyrology
is celebrated another Valentine who was bishop of Interamna (Terni)
about sixty miles from Rome and who was scourged, imprisoned, and then
beheaded there by order of Placidus, prefect of Interamna. Tradition has
it that the two are the same, ------that the bishop of Interamna had
been a Roman priest who became bishop and was sentenced there and
brought to Rome for his execution. The custom of sending Valentines on
February 14 stems from a medieval belief that birds began to pair on
that day.

Claudius had ordered all Romans to worship 12 gods. To be a Christian
was a crime punishable by death, but the threat of death did not
frighten Valentinus who was imprisoned. During his last weeks the jailer
asked him if he would teach his daughter Julia: she hadbeen blind since
birth. Valentinus agreed and described to her the beauty of God's
creation, and taught her how to pray. Julia believed what the Saint
taught her and asked God to cure her blindness. As Valentinus and Julia
prayed for this, a bright light shown in the jail and she was healed.

On the eve of his death, Valentinus wrote a last note to Julia
telling her to always stay close to God. He was Martyred the next day,
February 14, 270 A.D. It is thought that she planted a pink-blossomed
almond tree near his grave.

Though I love and care for my family and all of you.....my real love this Valentine's Day is for our Heavenly Father who has so loved and cared for me and my family. For some of us the grief is still real and raw and there will always be difficult days for that's what happens when you lose someone you loved.....But through the bare trees of grief and mourning I catch glimpses of His Love in my heart rising like a new day dawning.

In His grip,
Papa Tripp
Here's my Valentine song for all of you..My love to you all....