It’s that time of year. Snuggle up to that special someone in your life, nibble on their earlobe, and tell them how much they make your heart flutter and your knees wobble. Time to blow some cash on chocolate and flowers, and dust off that bottle of cologne—if you can find it. For many of us guys, it’s the only day of the year we comb our hair—if we can find that. My wife Ramona is expecting a romantic candle-lit dinner but insists I refrain from cooking anything as the smoke detector got quite a workout last year.

But maybe this isn’t such a happy day for you. Perhaps the bouquets have been getting smaller, or marriage isn’t quite what you thought it would be. A friend told me, “My cat is my only valentine.” It’s Singleness Awareness Day or SAD. So I’d like to dedicate this episode of Laugh Again to any of my friends who have the Valentine blues. Here are three steps to being encouraged today.

1) Keep your sense of humour active. A single gal said that this Valentine’s day she’ll just spend the day with her true love: food. What a great sense of humour. The best sense of humour comes from those with a golden heart of gratitude.

2) Remember how much you have. In 1 Peter 1:3, paraphrased in The Message, we read, “Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!” We’re all in danger of looking to some future event to fulfill us – thinking, when I land that job, when I get married, when my spouse stops whining, when I retire, then I’ll be happy. But if you’re miserable being single, then you’ll be miserable married. Let’s start today and be the kind of people our dogs think we are.

3) Remember that Hollywood tells lies. Yup. Dean Martin sang, You’re Nobody till Somebody Loves You. It’s a lie. Happily ever after is a fairy tale. If you’re single, there’s nothing wrong with you. In fact, you’re part of an illustrious group that includes Jesus of Nazareth, Leonardo da Vinci, Joan of Ark, Mother Teresa, Sir Isaac Newton and Thomas Jefferson. You say, wait Phil, those people are all dead. Well, one of them isn’t. Jesus was raised from the dead and he loves you beyond belief. So make the most of what you have now. Throw a party. And save me some cake.

But I’d better go. My wife is waiting patiently at home for that dinner by candlelight that I promised her. So I think I’ll find that old bottle of cologne, and cook something. After I take the batteries out of the smoke alarm