February 14, 2026
I felt compelled to share a prayer that came across my prayer app, Lectio 365*, this morning, a prayer for those for whom today is a tough day, a prayer that puts real love in perspective, a prayer composed not by me but by the founder of the app, Peter Greig. May it speak to you wherever and however you find yourselves this day:
I pray today for those in love, those out of love, and those in between. I remember especially those who find themselves a little bit lonelier than normal.
Lord, I do not pray today for loved-up couples, exchanging overpriced flowers and foil-wrapped hearts, leaking pheromones like diesel fumes at candlelit dinners. I’m pretty sure they will be okay (for now).
Instead, I hereby dedicate this happy crappy day to anyone caring for a loved one with a chronic illness of body, mind or soul. Lord, let them be a little bit more okay because I prayed.
Flame of love, melt our tiny, tinny chocolate hearts. Wherever marriages have grown cold, calloused with conflict, or mired in the mundane, would you please rekindle the fires of true romance?
Attend to the elderly gentleman gazing at a fading sepia photograph in a silver frame of a wedding in another time. Look at him and look with him and be with him in the remembering and the unremembering, too.
And on this day, named after one of your unmarried saints, would you please bring a little unexpected joy to every wistful soul buying flowers for themselves? May their daffodils last longer and shine brighter than the overpriced red roses that also caught their eye.
God of all comfort, strengthen single parents on this difficult day. Let their kids be kind, let their teens tidy their bedrooms, and if that’s a miracle too far (for I realize you’ve got a lot on in the world right now), could they at least be less grumpy and initiate a hug at bedtime?
And so, may the arms of love, flung wide on the cross, embrace the unlovely and unloving parts of my world, my workplace, and my life today. Forgive me, I pray, for this cheap, hysterical, isolating thing I have sometimes made of love, of life, and of you. Amen.
(c) Pete Greig, Lectio 365, February 14, 2026
With love ~ Rosemary
Photo credit: Rosemary McMahan
*If you are searching for a 10-15 minute prayer app that focuses on the love and grace of God and not judgment, fear, and shame, look up Lectio 365. As a bonus for us Americans, we get to listen to voices from the UK. ♥
Spirit Reflections 
Oh Rosemary that prayer sure spoke to me. This is the first Valentines Day without my husband although this time last year, as your prayer says, I was caring for a very ill man. Prior to that he had always come home with flowers on Valentines Day. So this year, also as your prayer says, I will be buying some flowers for myself and remembering him!! Thank you. Jocelyn.
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On this Valentine’s Day, I LOVED THIS POEM YOU SHARED! Thank you.
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You are welcome!
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I’m so grateful the prayer spoke to you and has been prayed FOR you by so many people. I hope you felt the prayers, and I’m so very sorry for your loss.
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