Reflection 13: The Valentine’s Day That Wasn’t

Our Valentine’s Day was not exactly what I expected.

We had signed up for a marriage retreat at church that was broken up over three days. A few hours Friday, a few hours Saturday, and a couple hours Sunday. Valentine’s Day fell on Saturday this year, so I went into the weekend hopeful. Intentional. Ready for something sweet and meaningful.

During the first session, though, our son would not stay calm. He wanted us. Needed to sit in our laps. So we made the decision to let him spend the rest of the weekend at Nona’s so we could fully lean into the retreat and actually receive what it was offering.

I started Saturday trying to set the tone. I went to get tea from my favorite place. It tasted like dirty leaves. Truly. Dirty, dirty leaves. My husband’s unsweet tea tasted the same. So we dumped them out. There went my little pick me up.

Okay. Not ideal.

We went to the retreat, did the sessions, had good conversations. Around 2:50 in the afternoon my husband got a text from our electric provider that said, “We are working to restore power.”

Restore power? That implies we lost it. But we had no idea.

The retreat ended around 4:00, and we drove home in pouring rain. Not just light rain. Soak you to the bone rain. The kind that makes everything feel heavy. When we turned into our neighborhood, we realized what had happened. A tree had snapped and fallen onto the power lines. Not only that, it had snapped two telephone poles. The entire section of our neighborhood was without power.

And there we were. No lights. A 6 month old. A fridge full of food. No idea when power would come back on.

So we packed up in the dark. One candle. A couple flashlights. Throwing things into bags while it got darker outside. We decided to drive to Nona’s house near Houston and stay the night.

I was grumpy.

We had packed a nice bottle of wine to salvage the evening. I was craving my favorite pasta, but we are sticking to a budget, so that was not happening. We tried to grab sweet tea somewhere else and missed the exit. I felt like everything was going wrong.

By the time we got to Nona’s, I was done. My husband opened the wine, poured me a glass, and I took a sip. It tasted drier than a desert. Of course it did.

I felt utterly defeated. Like the whole day just… sucked. I wanted to kick a rock.

But then I looked around.

I had two beautiful children. A loving mother-in-law with a home big enough and warm enough to welcome us in when we needed it. A husband who willingly gives up his weekend for a marriage retreat because he wants our marriage to be strong. A car that gets us where we need to go. The means to pack up and leave when we have to.

So many blessings.

And I almost missed them because I was focused on tea and power and wine.

Sunday, I had a moment to reflect. And I realized something. If I measured the day by worldly standards, sure. It was inconvenient. It was messy. It was not romantic. But if I measured it by what God had placed around me, it was abundant. Overly abundant.

Yes, the power was out for about twelve hours. Yes, we had to throw away everything in the fridge. But we also cleaned it out, and honestly, I cannot remember the last time we deep cleaned that fridge.

Perspective changes everything.

Life can look terrible or it can look beautiful depending on where your eyes rest. The glass half full or half empty. And I truly believe the Lord calls us to see the gift. Because none of this is random. None of it is owed. It is given.

Even the inconvenient days.

So if you are having one of those days where everything tastes like dirty leaves and nothing goes according to plan, look again. There might be more good surrounding you than you realize.

Just some food for thought.