Nat King Cole once summed up the meaning of the day in single a verse:
L — is for the way you look at me
O — is for the only one I see
V — is very, very extraordinary
E — is even more than anyone that you adore
Claudius Gothicus of Rome, during the exile of the Christians, caught Saint Valentine and martyred the man for his crimes against the empire. His wrong-doing?
Saint Valentine married people. More specifically, he married Christians, and any type of assistance to Christians was considered illegal at Claudius' era of Roman rule; for his actions, he was sentenced to death, and was killed on February 14th, the origin of the name for Saint Valentine's day.
Later in history, Geoffrey Chaucer (the same author as that of the Canterbury Tales) wrote the Parliament of Foules, a narrative that offers a fictitious, romantic farce of tradition: the tradition of drawing for Valentines.
The legend goes that each year, young boys would draw the names of like-aged girls for the feast held on February 14th. The lads would then take the girl's name and would partner with her for the duration of the feast — and sometimes even over the course of a full year. Many of the young couples grew to marry after the fact.
While this legend is entirely invented in the mind of a raunchy-yet-romantic writer, the idea of such a tradition is not unfounded.
As it would have it, the Valentines would watch out for each other, providing companionship and support during the season of St. Valentine's Day.
Happy Saint Valentine's Day!
If you have a date, good for you: appreciate him or her all the more, and be thankful that you have someone who not only puts up with you but enjoys it, too! And if you don't have a date? Know that there are those in your life whom care for you and provide, and never neglect to share the same devotion to others around you!
I hope that none of you forget the fact that God holds each of us in His hand — each of us His own Valentine.
God drew each of us long before the first of Saint Valentine's day, painting our every feature into our face as a sculptor with his clay, and since that day, He has remained our steadfast, unwavering Valentine. Genesis 22:14 describes God as the LORD Who Provides
“So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’”
YHVH Yireh, the hand of Providence—the hand of God.