The power of love
Nabukeera Doreen, 28, a peer educator who works with women living with HIV or AIDS in Uganda, reflected on how her views on love have changed.
My reflection on Valentine’s Day is that many women are suffering because of love. Some are even rejected on that day because their men have got new girls. Some are not given gifts on that day which makes many women get depressed. For me, it was on Valentine’s Day in 2013 that I got into a mess because I wanted to please my boyfriend. I ended up getting pregnant when I was still in school, which disorganized my life for some good years, because I became a single mother at a young age. I stopped school. My mom was disappointed in me. But Luke 1:53-54 says he has filled the hungry with good things. This scripture gave me comfort and peace whenever I read it: the Lord was still on my side no matter what, and his mercies were upon me and my kid.
In those days, because of depression, I hated everyone—the dad of my kid and people around me—and also I hated myself. I was hurting deep inside myself for those years. But my life started changing and I gained strength and faith as a single mom. God still can visit my wounds and heal them. I thank God I am still alive.
Now I know who I am in front of my God and people around me. I now know to fight for my rights thanks to the World Council of Churches. That's the power of love. The more I hated, the more I suffered and got depressed but now, the more I love by God's grace, everything is changing. Glory, hallelujah!

Valentine’s Day to me
Nanah Tyaba Faith, 22, a second-year student in Kyambogo university in Uganda, reflected on what Valentine’s Day means to her.
Previously in my younger years, I didn't know love. Growing up with a single mother always made me feel unloved. One, because Mom was a hustler and didn't have time for love, second because no one was there to love me as a child. Whenever a boy at school would tell me how much he loved me, this would mean the world to me; it made my stone heart warm. I thought that was love, that it was only between a boy and a girl. But that was not the case. What caused the stone heart, anyway?
I was hurt by the people who were so close to me that I loved the most. My own family broke my heart. They betrayed and made us poor to the extent that we had nowhere to stay. Some bewitched my mother and took all that we had. My mother ran mad at that moment. I had to start life from zero. My heart was torn into pieces from every side. My eyes had tears all the time, accompanied with hatred for friends and relatives. I was broken and I thought I would not trust or love anymore. It took me a long time to even trust myself. I was so traumatized by these events.
I realized that the love I had been looking for in people and materials was only in God. When I established a relationship with God, I felt whole, safe, and secure because when I sinned, he saved me. His love sustained every day of my life and this love was very abundant even when I didn't ask. He took the old and made me knew by changing my heart of stone and replacing it with joy and gladness; when I got wounded from disappointments, I was healed for free. I was nursed from bad health. I even learned to smile for no reason. Oh, he gave me a new song.
I have found this love so amazing because of how deep and wide it can go.

Healthy relationships
Amega Yao Yayra, from Lomé, Togo, reflected on love as an active behavior.
Valentine's Day is a special day dedicated to celebrating the love and affection we feel for the most important people in our lives. It's a day to renew our commitment to those we love and show them how much they mean to us.
Love is the force that gives us life and Valentine's Day reminds us how important it is to celebrate and appreciate it.
This celebration aims to celebrate love and remind us how precious sharing a positive and reciprocal feeling is.
Valentine's Day is a day that celebrates love and romance. However, for many people, this day can also be a reminder of bad love experiences that left bitter memories and wounds.
Relationships can be difficult and broken hearts can leave deep scars. Some people have been hurt by violent or abusive partners, while others have experienced painful breakups, romantic disappointments, or just plain social rejection.
Violence in relationships can take many forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse, and can affect anyone, regardless of gender, age, race, or religion.
Despite this, it is possible to heal and rebuild after bad romantic experiences. It is important to receive support from family, friends, and professionals to help overcome the pain and move forward.
By celebrating Valentine's Day, we can take the time to acknowledge bad love experiences and broken hearts, show our support for those affected by promoting healthy relationships, and demonstrate enduring sincerity in our relationships to heal sad hearts.
A healthy relationship can bring many benefits, including:
Through communication: Open and honest communication can help resolve issues and build trust and mutual respect.
Through emotional support: Partners can support each other through difficult times and share accomplishments and moments of joy.
Through personal growth: A healthy relationship can encourage each person to become a better version of themselves and to explore new passions and interests.
Through intimacy: Healthy relationships can allow exploration of emotional and physical intimacy, which can strengthen bonds and feelings of attachment.
Through stability: Healthy relationships can be a source of stability and security, which can help reduce stress and increase life satisfaction.
Through family development: Healthy relationships can lead to the development of a happy and supportive family.
Through mutual and continued acceptance, we can contribute to building a more inclusive and warmer world for all because love is not just a strong feeling, but rather an active behavior of kindness, patience, understanding and forgiveness towards others.

Beyond infatuation
Rev. Ikechukwu Anaga, dean and minister in charge, of the Mary Slessor Memorial Presbyterian Cathedral, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, reflected on the highest form of love.
My greatest heart-desire as a growing young person was to be loved, especially by the opposite sex, but I grew up in a Nigerian suburb of strictly work and less love. A survival of the fittest, you were flogged for allowing yourself to be distracted by love. The church taught us that venturing into an opposite sex relationship was a sin against God. We were torn in between opinions, whether love was a gift from God or the devil. The quagmire continued unabated for a very long time in our subconscious.
Now comes Valentine’s Day. We were told it is a day when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. In my head I could not put together my Christian teaching about love and how Valentine’s Day was celebrated—drenched in lust, nudity, and infatuation. This “love’s” magical spell had destroyed a good number of my peers and I was simply confused on how to go about love.
The dramatic change came when I discovered I was empty without the highest form of love offered to humanity in Christ—an agape love that embraces a deep and profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstances. As we were told in Sunday School, life without Jesus is like a donut—it makes a hole in the middle of the heart. I realised that a hole existed in the middle of my heart without the love of Christ. The hole at the middle of my heart was closed the moment I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and saviour.
It also dawned on me that our journey into relationships as young people often begins with big ideals about love. These ideals are fanned by feelings of infatuation, which gives life a whole new vista. Suddenly, as if by magic, we feel whole and completely ready to tackle anything that comes our way. But like anything new and exciting, infatuatory magic eventually fades away and the emptiness in our heart returns with a bang. Not only that, but problems and irritations begin cropping up which further cloud feelings of love and connection.
Beyond infatuation, we must learn to approach love through a pure, willful, and sacrificial love that intentionally desires another’s highest good by cultivating a deeper Christ-centred life through the power of the Holy Spirit as encouraged by 1 John 4:7-9 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”
Thursdays in Black “Love heals, not hurts” Social Media cards
Valentine’s Message from WCC General Secretary Rev. Dr Jerry Pillay