Roses and Valentine's Day

Posted by Ruth Ann Dell

Hearts, love poems, pretty cards trimmed in shades of red, cuddly teddy bears, chocolates and chubby cherubs with bows and arrows abound today—Valentine's Day. And roses everywhere.  Exquisite red roses saying "I love you".

On Saturday my friend, Yvonne, shared her creativity and showed a group of church friends how to make felt roses.

Yvonne with some of her felt roses

What a morning of fun, love and fellowship we had as we pinned, laughed, snipped, chatted, sewed, laughed, made mistakes, chatted, drank tea, laughed some more, arranged petals, wielded the glue gun, chatted some more... well I'm sure you get the idea.

Ready to start

Cutting out petals

The colours of roses convey different messages. Not only do red roses mean love, but they also stand for passion, beauty, courage and respect. A yellow rose with red-tipped petals will tip you off that the giver values your friendship and is falling in love with you, while lavender hues indicate love at first sight and enchantment. White roses tell of  purity and innocence. Want to express admiration, sympathy, grace, joy or sweetness? Buy light pink roses for a gift. Red and white roses given together signify unity. Dark pink shows appreciation and gratitude.

A beautiful bouquet of roses showing appreciation

Our instruction sheets included advice from a rose:

• Bloom
• Share your beauty
• Be a good bud
• Grow gracefully
• Spread sweetness

Sage advice indeed, well worth following every day of the year.

And today I wish I could shower God with a multitude of red roses to say "I love You". Not only has He given us the gift of roses in this world to enjoy, He has also given us the gift of His great love, shown in the ultimate gift of Jesus, His Son, Who died to give us forgiveness for our sins and the gift of eternal life. What an amazing gift to thank Him for this Valentine's Day.