The only person that can satisfy the aching abyss of the human heart is Jesus Christ. 

—Oswald Chambers 

I hate Valentines Day. There, I said it.

Most of the guys reading this just thought, Yes! I can’t believe he said that.

Most of the women just thought, What a jerk! I can’t believe he said that.

But it’s true. I hate Valentine's Day. And Stasi loves it; it’s one of her favorite holidays. (God, what are you thinking?!). I hate being told, “Today, you will be romantic. Today, you will be amazing. Today, you will get it all right. And tonight, you will arrange for one of the most romantic evenings you two will have this year. Tonight, sex will be on a level with the Hallelujah chorus. Hollywood will have wished they had filmed this day.”

Who wants to live under that kind of pressure?

Real romance doesn’t work like that.

Romance seems to happen not because we’ve turned our google-eyed attention to romance, but because we are focused on other things—a beautiful fall day, and a spontaneous walk in the woods. An evening out “just because,” and we stumble on a great little restaurant and it all just becomes lovely. Or maybe the two of you simply rent a movie and watch it in your sweats, but it stirs both your hearts deeply and afterwards you have an amazing conversation and the intimacy makes you want to rip each other’s clothes off.

Romance requires free hearts.

Pressure, on the other hand, kills everything it touches.

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