{"id":5118,"date":"2014-02-13T20:45:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T00:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/?p=5118"},"modified":"2014-02-13T20:45:14","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T00:45:14","slug":"the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"The Valentine’s Gift That Costs Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Saint<\/a>
Saint Valentine of Terni oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni, from a 14th-century French manuscript. Photo via Wikimedia Commons (public domain.)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I spent a fair bit of my teen years reading Focus on the Family\u2019s Brio<\/em>, a now-defunct magazine aimed at teen girls as an alternative to Seventeen, YM, <\/em>and other glossy periodicals whose vision of female adolescence involved the consumption of a great deal of clothes and makeup and the pursuit of the perfect prom dress\u2013and perfect date to go with it.<\/p>\n

While Brio <\/em>was far more wholesome than the options available at every grocery checkout\u2013on balance, I\u2019m glad my parents kept my subscription active until I left for college\u2013now that I\u2019m grown I can see the ways in which Brio<\/em>, and sources like it, filled my head with notions of romance that weren\u2019t exactly biblical.<\/p>\n

One feature article in Brio <\/em>presented the biblical book of Ruth as a model of godly romance. Ruth waited for Boaz to take notice of her, so that particular interpretation went, and kept herself busy in the meantime, and God rewarded her by giving her a wealthy new husband and, not long after, a baby.<\/p>\n

But later\u2013after I\u2019d finished a degree in biblical studies and married a man with several<\/em> degrees in biblical studies\u2013I realized that this reading of Ruth was all wrong. Ruth wasn\u2019t waiting around for Boaz to notice her. She was busy taking care of her mother-in-law, Naomi. And when the time seemed right, Ruth<\/em> proposed to Boaz.<\/em><\/p>\n

This certainly wasn\u2019t like anything I\u2019d read in my Christian teen magazines.<\/p>\n

{This is the beginning of my most recent post \u2014 on the history and meaning of Valentine\u2019s Day \u2014 for iBelieve. <\/a>Please go there<\/a> to read the rest!}<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent a fair bit of my teen years reading Focus on the Family\u2019s Brio, a now-defunct magazine aimed at teen girls as an alternative to Seventeen, YM, and other glossy periodicals whose vision of female adolescence involved the consumption of a great deal of clothes and makeup and the pursuit of the perfect prom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2070,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[380,519,936,1154,1209,1981,2378],"class_list":["post-5118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brio","tag-christians-and-valentines-day","tag-focus-on-the-family","tag-history-of-valentines-day","tag-ibelieve-com","tag-ruth-and-boaz","tag-valentines-day"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Valentine's Gift That Costs Everything<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I spent a fair bit of my teen years reading Focus on the Family\u2019s Brio, a now-defunct magazine aimed at teen girls as an alternative to Seventeen, YM, and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Valentine's Gift That Costs Everything\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I spent a fair bit of my teen years reading Focus on the Family\u2019s Brio, a now-defunct magazine aimed at teen girls as an alternative to Seventeen, YM, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rachel Marie Stone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-14T00:45:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/files\/2014\/02\/screenshot-2014-02-12-13-35-45.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel Marie Stone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel Marie Stone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/\",\"name\":\"The Valentine's Gift That Costs Everything\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-14T00:45:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-14T00:45:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/c46cec1db7f3461f4f3d5289c79a2a8c\"},\"description\":\"I spent a fair bit of my teen years reading Focus on the Family\u2019s Brio, a now-defunct magazine aimed at teen girls as an alternative to Seventeen, YM, and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2014\/02\/13\/the-valentines-gift-that-costs-everything\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Valentine’s Gift That Costs Everything\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/\",\"name\":\"Rachel Marie Stone\",\"description\":\"Faith, Family, Food; 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