“Teacher,which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:36-39
LOVE…small word…big meaning! As my children have gotten older, I have felt a strong calling to teach them about what LOVE really is. LOVE can mean very different things, in very different situations. Love is more than a feeling or an emotion, it can actually be a verb…an action required of you. We are called to love biblically, and for me, sometimes that is just not easy.
Love is a verb…a choice we can make everyday.
Valentine’s is the perfect time for me to sit down with my two children (my beautiful daughter is now 11 and my adorable son is 8) and breakdown 1 Corinthians 13:4-8…
“Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,always perseveres. Love never fails”
I have it broken down into 14 days. Each day, starting February 1st, we read the verses and discuss the virtue for that day. As my children continue to grow both in age and maturity, I find it refreshing to listen to them discuss what they think each part of the verses mean to them. The questions can sometimes be quite challenging to answer as well!
Last year I made our LOVE tree. I have it on our kitchen island where breakfast is served. Each small glass heart ornament has a part of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 attached to it. My children enjoy finding the one for each day. It is my prayer that even if they do not appear to always be listening, that they will someday get it, whether that is tomorrow or 10 years from now. It is my desire for my children and family, that they will both feel LOVED and know how to LOVE…unconditionally…
This song by JJ Heller…”What Love Really Means” is about the need we all feel for love and how we feel we do not deserve it, but it is through God’s grace that He gives it openly,freely, and unconditonally…….
Trish Flake
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I know how you feel…I try to impart these virtues to my children, as well. And yesterday in my son’s first grade Sunday School class, I taught the principle of The Golden Rule. A most beautiful and touching book on this for kids is The Golden Rule by Ilene Cooper, illustrated by Gabi Swiatowska (fabulous illustrations!) It was so neat to hear these 6 and 7 year olds tell, in their own words, what it means to treat others as you’d like to be treated. Their compassion was amazing!
Kudos to you on your journey to share such insight with your children! Kathleen
Thank you Kathleen! And big KUDOS back to you as well! I will definitely have to check that book out!:)Bonnie
I needed your Valentine post today, as I have been an unloving mom to my 14 and 16 yr old kids today. I needed the Lord’s encouragement from I Cor 13. Thanks for being used by God to convict me today.
Kathleen in the midwest
This is an inspriring initiative that I will not only start myself, but pass along to many others as well! Your creativity is awesome, but your true stories touch lives… know you effect more people than you can imagine! Thank you!