LOVE IS....
...sharing your stuff
...when somebody pushes someone and they forgive them
...to care or be cared for by someone
...an ongoing feeling for someone/a different kind of caring
...it isn't about honey
...sharing my zebra (their favorite toy!)
...Jesus
...someone who loves you with all their heart like Jesus love you. He died for your sins. My favorite verse is
1 John 4:8 God is love.
...being a friend to someone
...I don't even go to "kitten-garden" yet, I don't have homework. (Said to dad by a preschooler when asked to answer the question and pretend like he was doing homework like his siblings. Too cute not to include!)
...I think love is when you like someone very well.
...being kind. When you help someone do something.
...can be romantical or something else.
...is a song. Love could be a heart.
Some days, my kids blow my socks off with their insight into something that I thought was beyond their years. Such as the day I finished reading the bible story about Joseph and his 11 brothers. At the end, I asked Tate, then five years old, "Do you know what it means that Joseph forgave his brothers?" He said very matter-of-factly while pushing his car around in the carpet, "Yep. It means he started loving them with all his heart again." Wow! Out of the mouth of a babe! Other times, I've had to pause as I realized they had perceived something through the lens of a child and it was skewed; like the little girl who sat on the plane, holding tightly to the chair, waiting for take-off. The mom could see her apprehension. "What is it, Honey?" Mom asked. "When do we get tiny?" she answered. "What do you mean?" Mom questioned, trying to understand. "You know, when we are flying in the sky and the plane shrinks real tiny." Kids have a logic all their own. Sometimes it's completely inaccurate.
What does this have to do with my story? I was a child once, (much to my kid's surprise). Children learn what they live. These years are very formative to our beliefs and fears. What I learned in my childhood, I call my "default setting." It's how I learned to do life, and what I tend to naturally go back to. I think sometimes we forget that children are VERY perceptive and a lot like little sponges. They watch, listen and try to imitate. If we talk and live a certain way, our children will imitate it, merely because it's what they know. Now, us parents can NOT be perfect and provide a mistake-free environment. But, love truly does cover a multitude of sins. So let us love well and ask for God's grace and wisdom as we teach our children. I pray that I teach God's truth with oceans of grace and love, because I am convinced a child needs grace more than us adults, since they are just tender little shoots growing into who they will be and easily trampled and bruised.
One last super-cute story about my little nephew, a.k.a. "the cutest sponge ever". My brother, Matt, had been home for a week with his 4 kids while his wife, who works for the airline was away for some training. He'd drop the 3 older kids off at school each morning and head home with his youngest, Eugene, and work on some things around the house that he was wanting to surprise his wife with; painting, putting up crown-molding. He'd walk in the door and say, "Ok, Eugene, here's the deal. Today we are going to...... and you are going to be my helper." The last day, Matt was still deciding what project to do, so he walked into house, hung up the keys, walked up the stairs, and headed into the kitchen to make coffee. Eugene silently followed behind him, every step. Finally, Eugene piped up and asked, "Dad when are you gonna say what my deal is today?" Oh, yes, they are totally listening....and evidently, anticipating!
What does this have to do with my story? I was a child once, (much to my kid's surprise). Children learn what they live. These years are very formative to our beliefs and fears. What I learned in my childhood, I call my "default setting." It's how I learned to do life, and what I tend to naturally go back to. I think sometimes we forget that children are VERY perceptive and a lot like little sponges. They watch, listen and try to imitate. If we talk and live a certain way, our children will imitate it, merely because it's what they know. Now, us parents can NOT be perfect and provide a mistake-free environment. But, love truly does cover a multitude of sins. So let us love well and ask for God's grace and wisdom as we teach our children. I pray that I teach God's truth with oceans of grace and love, because I am convinced a child needs grace more than us adults, since they are just tender little shoots growing into who they will be and easily trampled and bruised.
One last super-cute story about my little nephew, a.k.a. "the cutest sponge ever". My brother, Matt, had been home for a week with his 4 kids while his wife, who works for the airline was away for some training. He'd drop the 3 older kids off at school each morning and head home with his youngest, Eugene, and work on some things around the house that he was wanting to surprise his wife with; painting, putting up crown-molding. He'd walk in the door and say, "Ok, Eugene, here's the deal. Today we are going to...... and you are going to be my helper." The last day, Matt was still deciding what project to do, so he walked into house, hung up the keys, walked up the stairs, and headed into the kitchen to make coffee. Eugene silently followed behind him, every step. Finally, Eugene piped up and asked, "Dad when are you gonna say what my deal is today?" Oh, yes, they are totally listening....and evidently, anticipating!
Love it!!
ReplyDeleteKIDS ARE LOVE... in every way... from Day One through all of life--that love just grows and gives back; over & over.
ReplyDeleteThat's the deal--everyday :-)