Noelle m.

God gave His first commandment to man, be fruitful and multiply.”

The three highest loves in order are love for God, love for your children and love for your husband or wife.

As a family of six, my parents have indeed multiplied as God had commanded, and they strive to maintain the order of love within our family.

This year, my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day – the feast day of Saint Valentine and known worldwide as a day to celebrate romance and love.

Despite how romantic Valentine’s Day may seem, with every advertisement capitalizing on love, society becomes more and more induced into fantasies and delusions. Love has been culturally and commercially portrayed through gestures of grandeur and materiality, stripping the very essence of love.

But as I was reminded of this year, observing the love between my parents, love is holy, pure and powerful. My parents’ wedding anniversary signifies the holy event in which my father left his father and mother to join himself with his wife to become one body. Together, they are half of spirit and half of flesh.

What could be more romantic than that?

In the 30 years they have been together, I am in awe at what they have accomplished. Namely, cultivating the love they have for God and for their family. For without this love, they could not love their neighbors the way that they have as active members of the community.

And I always pray that they will grow more so in this love for many years to come.