It Ain’t About the Flowers

by Mark Morgan

www.markmorganbooks.com

Valentine’s Day has a way of makin’ folks nervous. It shows up every year dressed in red and pink, expectin’ everybody to prove somethin’, whether they were plannin’ to or not.

A fellow can get to thinkin’ it’s all about the flowers. Or the candy. Or the card with just the right words picked off a rack that’s been sayin’ the same thing since about 1973.

But I reckon it ain’t.

Truth is, most of us already know the flowers won’t last. They do their best for a few days and then politely fade out, like they’ve completed their assignment. The candy disappears even quicker. And the card usually ends up in a drawer that don’t get opened again until it’s time to look for batteries.

What sticks — if anything sticks at all — is the message behind it.

Love, the real kind, ain’t loud. It ain’t flashy. Most times it’s quiet and thoughtful. It’s knowin’ what makes a person comfortable. It’s payin’ attention. It’s sayin’, “I see you,” without feelin’ the need to announce it to the room.

Valentine’s Day tends to get folks focused on the props instead of the point. We measure affection by what can be handed over the counter instead of what’s carried day to day — patience, kindness, and showin’ up when it counts.

By the time the holiday passes, the decorations will come down and folks will be fixin’ to move on to the next thing. But if you did it right, the message will still be there, quietly doin’ its job.

Because it never really was about the flowers.

If you’ve got to prove love with something that won’t last, you’re likely missin’ the point.

The things that matter most ain’t the ones you can hold in your hands — they’re the ones that stay put after everything else is gone.