It’s wonderfully appropriate and seemingly paradoxical for Valentine’s Day and Lent to converge on the same date as they do from time to time. One seems to point to love, beauty and continuance while the other seems to point to penitence, fasting and self denial. From a different perspective however they are quite complimentary. Lent comes from the old English lengte which translates as springtime. This was the name given to the season of reconciliation and renewal for Christians. It’s focus was on making a new beginning through repentance and faithfulness to Christ, Divine Love.

The word repentance came from the Greek metanoia which originally meant to go beyond the rational dualistic mind into a whole new meta mind. This eventually was translated into ‘the mind of Christ.’ It was the flow of our True Nature from the infinite well-spring called Living Water, Source, Wordless Action, Silent Potency. It pointed to the transformation of humanity from the false nature of separation to the awakened unity of our True Nature, Inner Being, which came to be know by a thousand names.

Valentine’s day is shrouded in speculation and mystery. Some claim it comes from an ancient Roman fertility festival. Others claim it originates from the story of an English Duke while others point to a priest and bishop in the first centuries of the early Church. Whatever the circumstances, the essence of this commemoration is that of an abiding presence of lovingness that spans the centuries to touch the hearts of our humanity. It verifies the ongoing manifestation of the mystery of Love, Beauty and Continuance.

Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet speaks ever poetically of the present energy of the mystery of Life which includes continuance and the beauty of love wherever we are.

“Love has no other desire than to fulfill itself. Love, if it finds you open, directs your course. Love possesses not, nor would it possess. Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; to rest at the noon hour and meditate on love’s ecstasy; to return home at eventide with gratitude and then sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.”

For me this day is one of many that we can awaken to the wonder of who we all are at our core and celebrate the ongoing reverence of the moment. It’s a day of lovingness, a day of thanksgiving for the opportunities to awaken to the ever present lovingness that permeates all of creation. It reminds us to see beauty wherever we look and to embrace whatever crosses our path whether it be suffering, sorrow, pleasure or joyfulness. It reminds us that our lives are only as wonder-full as we allow them to be and to find this continuance in loving all ways.

• Take the time to open your heart and become aware of Inner Being today. Allow this Source energy to flow through you toward all you perceive and experience today. . . .
• Meditate on the lovingness that has held you throughout your life. See beauty wherever you look and the continuance of this Life giving energy wherever you are. Relax into the depth of things to appreciate all and everything. Breathe into it and let it breathe into you. . . .
• Allow yourself to be touched by impressions of Life inside and around you today. Feel the vitality, the aliveness, the lovingness, the beauty, the continuance of LIFE and embrace it. . . .
• Feel the Love within and surrender to it with a smiling heart. Inner Being is calling you home.