Lynda’s Journal of Blessings – #750 

>> Valentine’s Day <<

 

Walking by Inner Vision, since December 2009

 

__My Thoughts:  Valentine’s Day

First, here are some facts from Hallmark:

According to Hallmark, a whopping 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged every February 14 (and that’s not even including all those kids’ valentines exchanged in classrooms!). This makes Valentine’s Day the second biggest holiday for exchanging greeting cards, after Christmas.

When I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of RED. 

A red heart always represents this holiday in packaging, advertising, and sales.

For a visual artist, everything in the world is about COLOR and Shape.

I’ve spent decades  pursuing the foundation of drawing and color theory as I created  a variety of art forms in painting, printmaking, ceramics and fiber art,  Behind every great work of art is a foundation of drawing and color theory.

 Every season has it’s specific colors, hues, and textures. 

As a Christian artist and author, I know that everything  created by God is a work of shape and color.  God is an artist, whose creations surround us.  

The most dismal days of  the winter season, is colorful, with muted, greyed  shades of every color in the spectrum.

There is color in every day, and color in every night, and in all seasons.

We can never get enough COLOR in our life. As we plan for the holidays throughout our year, we think of the colors that we associate with that particular holiday.

What color comes to your mind as you think of Valentine’s Day?

RED 

Red boxes in a heart shape, with red satin bows tied on top. Inside the box, deep chocolates will be nestled in delicate red tissue paper, most likely.

As I considered  this new week in which we celebrate Valentine’s Day on SATURDAY

my reverie carries  me to many places over my lifetime. 

I remember the Valentine Day parties in my grade-school years.  It was in the 1950’s.  This special day was  a big event and we prepared for it in our art classes.  We each created a large Valentine Box prior to the actual date for our party.  The boxes had a slit in the top so that valentines could be dropped into the box by our classmates during our class party.  How exciting!

For my first eight years in school, we had our Valentine’s Day party, with laughter and anticipation.  As we grew older over those early years, the girls would be giggling and hoping for a special valentine from one of the handsome boys in the class.  Our mother’s would bring in the cupcakes and cookies, all baked at home in their kitchens, of course.  And, the colors that filled the room on that day were warm and lively shades of RED. Cookies made into heart shapes, and glittering with red subar sparkles on the icing. 

During the years of raising my five children, I was a homne-room mother.  We brought treats and drinks to the classrooms of our school, according to the season  A favorite was always Valentine’s Day and I think it is because of the color of red and the hearts that were on everything.  It was festive, and it was personal.  We all exchanged cards for each other.

This new year,  is my third time to celebrate  Valentine’s Day without my high-school sweetheart – my husband – Bob Lambert. It is a strange feeling to realize that a special holiday I have celebrated since early childhood, is now very  different for me.

This  is a sad day for many people for a variety of reasons. I was blessed to have Bob in my life from the time I met him when I was fifteen. We married when I was seventeen,, in 1961.This week, we would have celebrated sixty-five years of Valentines and little gifts of love such as a bouquet of flowers, a new necklace, a ring, some candy, or dinner at a restaurant we enjoyed.  This is such a PERSONAL holiday, isn’t it! In my memories, it is now a tender shade of RED.

 Red is always the color of LOVE.  

Last year, a month after my brother  passed away,  my sister in law called to say,”This is Valentine’s Day, and I have no valentine in my life now.”   No Valentine, hug, or remembrance.   It’s a sad shade of red, on such days.

This holiday is still special to everyone despite the personal losses. There is a delightful beauty about this holiday, for me.  I think of the holiday as being a vivid shade of red.  And, red is a warm color that makes us feel alive.

I think we can do little things that will help us  lift our hearts  on Valentine’s Day.

Last year, I couldn’t help but buy a red heart filled with chocolate candy as I was shopping for groceries.  Sometimes, it is helpful to do little things to celebrate our losses, and give us some comfort and bring back the good memories of all the years we had together on Valentine’s Day.

 

Mouthwatering is the best word that comes to mind as I type this message.

 

Naturally, we typically associate RED with Valentine’s Day. At the grocery store you will see special heart-shaped gift boxes that are created to show love to someone special.

Inside those decorative red satin bows on the glamorous boxes, there is an assortment of delicious chocolates.

 

In my area of western Pennsylvania, we love to buy chocolates from our regional chocolate makers.  I like to send them as a surprise gift to long-distance friends and family, to show off the deliciousness of our local home-crafted chocolates and candy makers.

I must reveal that  I am in love with RED. 

I love to wear red, and my closet has a collection of red dresses for special events, shirts, even a beautiful pair of red slacks by a favorite designer.  Red makes me happy when I wear it, and it brings compliments and comments from friends.  I even drove a red car at times when I was younger.  Red just lights up the dreariness of a funky day, and it’s so much fun to wear.

 

Question:

What does Valentine’s Day mean to you?

 Scripture:

Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto  good works… 

⁹ However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”^[a]—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

Daily Action Plan:

1_ASK God to heal your heart today.  Sometimes, it is breaking with saddness and loss on a day for celebrating love.

2_ Your journal can be a soothing friend as you write about your day, or create a poem about your loved one.

3.  Call a friend or send some cards to friends who may not have a partner or spouse right now. 

4. If you are out shopping and see a place where a bouquet of flowers are available for purchase, why not buy some for yourself? Pick some flowers that make you happy.  Just a few roses or other flowers in a small vase on your table will really lift your spirits. Be kind to yourself today.

Tell me how you made Valentine’s Day a special day for yourself this year.

 

Do you know:

Red  is found in numerous stories and poems in my writings.

One significant poem is “Red December.”  

I authored a poem about my neighbor who was in her eighties.  She gallantly wore red.

From the  felt hat on her head, her woolen winter coat, to the leather shoes on her feet – it was RED. 

As a young mother, I was watching her get in her red car, across the road from my home. I whispered to myself:  “I will be like HER when I am old.  I will wear RED and I will be a happy woman, just like her!”

***

“Red December,” is the title of that  poem, and it appears in my book, Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems, (2017). That poem  speaks of the red that can be seen in clothing, and in my own wardrobe.

Think of RED perfume, RED holiday decorations, and other  sassy RED delights.

 

 

 

 

Note:

Red December:

Previously Published:

Red December (2016) poem

            _Proverse Hong Kong Poetry Prize for Single Verse

Accepted August 27, 2017 (Submittable)

Published:

 

2017, Anthology, Mingled Voices 2.

2019_Lambert, Lynda McKinney. Star 2019_Signs, DLD Books, 2019

2020_Lambert, Lynda McKinney. first snow, chapbook, 30 Poems, Finishing Line Press  

2022_Newsreel, Audio by Lynda, December Issue 2022.

2022_Poem From the Professor’s Journal, Walking by Inner Vision Blog, Dec. 5, 2022.

2026_Lynda’s Journal of Blessings_Sweetheart_February 8, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to Interview with Lynda  Here!

 

©Lynda’s Journal of Blessings, 2026.

FYI: My Background:

Professor Lynda McKinney Lambert taught fine art and humanities at a Christian college in Western Pennsylvania, She was a tenured professor, an actively exhibiting artist, and a published author.

I created exciting courses across the disciplines – Art –
English  Literature – Humanities.

My courses were taught on campus during the spring and fall semesters.  In the summer, I taught in Salzburg, Austria for a month of travel and studies.

My passions in academia are poetry and fine art.  I author books and I create  fine art in several mediums – Painting  and  Fiber Art.

How I Found HOPEFULNESS in Unexpected Changes:

I discovered a new life after sudden sight loss. For the next two years, I learned to see the world and my place in it in an entirely new way.  I completed training for Personal Adjustment to Blindness, It took two years of training and lots of challenging work to learn to read and write using adaptive technologies for the blind.  Ad the months went by, God was showing me that my creative life would continue,, but in some new ways.

I began to write Divinely inspired life lessons

New experiences and God-directed Opportunities

New DISCOVERIES  to  share with the world

A NEW SEASON on the Narrow Path with Jesus.

 

365 Days – My ONE WORD for 2026

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Lynda’s Latest Books are now available on Amazon and all retail booksellers.

LOOK HERE.

 

Each Day Holds Some Small Joy – Collection of Haiku and Tanka nature poems.

 

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Songs for the Pilgrimage…A Collection of Poems and short writings from journals and travels

 

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Songs for the Pilgrimage:

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©Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2025. All rights reserved.

Photo: Courtesy of Allauthor. Thank you!
Books illustrated were created by DLD Books.
Lynda has 6 published books.
Memoir, Poetry, Non-fiction.

More About Lynda