The Christmas Belle team, a group of 4 lady friends, has been helping to distribute love in creative ways. Nine years ago this group of friends  decided to host Christmas dinners for people having a difficult time. The dinners were hosted at St. John's Divine Anglican Church in Quesnel. In time, when there was an over abundance of Christmas dinners offered,  the Christmas Belles adapted their initiative to express care during Valentine's day. They partnered with Two Rivers Church and became  We-Care Valentine's Day lunch, offered for all who wish to come. They had a Valentine's Day Craft table where lunch guests could create a little something to give to their friends. Many did! There was also a "warm socks" table where each guest was welcome to take home a pair of warm socks.

Creating spaces and opportunities for people to reconnect with creativity and to give, especially when things are not going too well, creates conduits for love to flow in and through people.   

It is important to remember that love is big, eternal and it is not limited to romantic love.  After all we know that the priest named Valentine, after whom we celebrate Valentine's day,  was himself both single and celibate.He was  martyred in Rome for audaciously preaching the gospel to the Emperor Claudius, and secretly marrying persecuted Christians. Legend has it that he cut hearts from parchment to remind those he married of God's love. Another story describes Valentine healing the blindness of his jailer's daughter, and sending her a note from prison signed simply, 'Your Valentine'.  Frank Staff,   The Valentine & Its Origins  (Frederick A. Praeger, 1969).

So, when we celebrate Valentine's day in a posture of giving and serving rather than in a posture of entitlement we get to taste the sweetness and satisfaction of true love.   What a creative way to spread and to feel love, Christmas Belles! 

Quesnel People. Que encanto de gente!