Practice love all year round

I walked down the aisle noticing the Valentine#146;s Day cards were on display. You couldn#146;t miss the vibrant red colored hearts or the shiny, foil emblems. I scanned over the sentimental sayings #133; when there it was #8212; a shimmering, glittery Valentine.

Since my childhood, I have delighted in those Valentines with that special touch of glitter and sometimes the smooth sensation of velvet as well.

I bought a small box containing 12 glitter notes. When I arrived home, I grabbed a pen and wrote a special love saying to my husband on the back. I placed it in an envelope, I wet a stamp and popped it in the mail. Not only is Valentine#146;s Day a fun time to express your loving sentiments, but for us it#146;s our wedding anniversary.

I still enjoy giving Valentines to my husband, children and friends. Love is fun. It makes our life excel in ways we could never imagine. If we persist, it can heal broken hearts, including our own.

But love takes effort. We think that it#146;s an emotion that comes and goes and we tend to follow along with it. Instead, we have to work at it. Our human nature tends to be lazy and selfish. However, we have to exert some energy when we don#146;t feel like being kind to another.

Love doesn#146;t do the right thing to get something in return, although oftentimes, that is the end result; love does the right thing because it#146;s the right thing. Showing love means being nice to those we like as well as those we don#146;t like.

Love was the new commandment set forth by Christ. He desired us to learn how to love #8212; when we love, we obey all the other commandments.

Love isn#146;t something we practice one special day a year. It#146;s a discipline we put in motion each and every day of the year.

Ÿ Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at Annetteebudzban @aol.com.