The SAD Day

Valentine's Day on February 14^th is the hot, romantic day celebrated by restaurants and Hallmark Cards to drive up corporate profits, also known as a "Hallmark Holiday".But not everyone can celebrate Valentine's Day with a romantic fling. Fortunately, February 15^th is a new day proclaimed "Singles Awareness Day" which "serves as a complement to Valentine's Day for people who are single, and not married or in a romantic relationship," Wikipedia says. Unfortunately, "Singles Awareness Day" also spells SAD.By trying to celebrate love, both February 14^th and 15^th are confused and therefore sad days in modern civilization, are they not? Both days try celebrating an amorphous "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," as one song called it, not really understanding what love is or how to make it work successfully.Unlike Valentine's Day, the SAD day casts a wider net across the concept of love, which is admirable. The SAD definition begins as "a celebration of love in all forms recognizing the love between friends, family," but then SAD ends with, "and loving yourself," which is a sad way to define love. "Loving yourself" epitomizes loneliness, not love. "Loneliness is the primary problem behind addictions," writes Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in his book Together. "Loneliness is a root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world today from alcohol and drug addiction to violence to depression and anxiety…affecting not only our health but also how our children experience school, how we perform in the workplace, and the sense of division and polarization in our society."There is abundant medical research linking chronic, poor health and compromised immune systems with poor love relationships, according to Surgeon General Dr. Murthy

Whipple Surgery Wisdom

I can testify to the vital role love plays in physical healing. I recently survived a 12-hour-long Whipple surgery where they ripped out most of my stomach, pancreas, 30 or 40 lymph nodes, part of my colon, and many other guts like my gall bladder. What a mess. It required 45 staples to seal the incision. For eight hours after my surgery, I was left to the whimsical healing powers of resident doctors, nurses, surgeons and other professionals. Those poor people never met such a miserable patient. Despite their heroic efforts, it wasn't until my beloved wife was allowed to come see me that I could actually tolerate the pain. They wanted her there. They needed her there.There's something about love that is distinctly spiritual and deeply meaningful which eludes our secular culture. Medical professionals cannot describe it, but they know love carries long-term significance required for human survival. Secularists try to explain it away as animal urges."Scientists say there are three stages of love," according to a CBS News Sunday Morning report (see CBS News Sunday Morning 2/13/2022, "The Truth About True Love".) How does love develop? Through "lust, romantic obsession, and long-term attachment," according to secularists. Then the report flashed a number of images depicting mostly the joys of "lust".What they couldn't explain is how lust naturally evolves into "long-term attachment."In my case, I understand how I attracted Darlene initially through "lust", of course, considering my studly physique back in 1984 when we married. But can anyone explain my wife's "long-term attachment" to a creature emerging from a Whipple surgery looking like this? The problem with the secular view of love is that it cannot describe love in any meaningful way. How could my beautiful wife still remain faithfully devoted to the lame beast pictured above?Without any spiritual dimension, it's difficult to explain how love can graduate (or evolve) from "lust" to "long-term attachment". There is no advantage to long-term attachment in old age, especially when one unhealthy partner (such as me) clearly slows down the other, healthier partner (such as Darlene). There must be a spiritual dimension to love that adorns love with magnificent value which exceeds temporary, survivalist needs.

"Three things last forever," the Bible says. "Faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13)

The need for love relationships and its deep significance to human survival proves there is an undeniable, badly needed and spiritual dimension to human life. This is the "love dimension", or the "relational dimension," if you prefer."Faith, hope and love" together define what makes relationships work (or not work) properly. It has to begin with God. If it's impossible to trust God, it certainly is impossible to trust anyone else.