Written by Beth Jordahl
Everything in February is hearts and flowers! The grocery store is stocked with lots of pink, red, and white candies. And walk into any craft store and you will be assaulted with any number of bright colored supplies for making Valentines.
The time has come, all these things declare, to tell the people around you how much you love them!
While Valentine’s day may be a bit cheesy and overdone, the idea of sharing how much you love others should be at the heart of what we do all year round.
This month, all of our Twirl classes are talking about LOVE with the verse: Deuteronomy 6:5:
"Love the Lord with all your heart."
This is not always an easy concept for little dancers. Mommies, daddies, grandmas, and grandpas are always saying “I love you.” And sometimes the dancers may even say it back!
They may have started to learn to love through action. Sharing with siblings, or giving hugs. Or saying sorry for something that has gone wrong. They may love to create art to give to their favorite people. Or seek to spend time with those they love the most.
But how do we help them understand how to love someone they can’t see, touch or hear?
This is the question for many parents, Sunday School teachers and families. How do we love the Lord with all our hearts? And, how do we help our kids do that as well?
One of the best ways to help your littles grow in their faith is to create experiences with them to share your own faith. These opportunities will help you show what it means to LOVE God with all of your heart.
Here are a few things you can do with your family:
Worship
Whether you are at church or at home, worship music is a great way to help kids connect with God. You can help them learn the words to the song. Or just let everyone dance what they are feeling! Then you can talk about what they liked about the music and why worship is important to you.
Serve
You can love God by loving others! This is a tangible way to talk about loving God. Choose a way to serve others and then do it as a family. You can make cookies to share with your neighbors. You could serve at church, or find out if your church has a community service program.
*For this week, you can also bring in new, fun, fuzzy, silly socks to the studio any time before Feb. 14th that will be donated to Children’s Hospital. Maybe even take your kids with you to let them pick out the socks. This is a great opportunity to bring some love and comfort to the kids in our community!
Art
Ask your kids what they think love is. Then create art using your favorite supplies and put up your masterpieces as a reminder of what love looks like!
Read
Here are a few wonderful books written for kids that share the beauty of God’s love:
- The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones A beautiful kids Bible that focuses on how all the stories are pointing to God’s rescue plan, Jesus.
- God’s Very Good Idea by Trillia Newbell A book about how God created all of us to be different and how He has a plan for His church.
- You Are Special by Max Lucado This creative book tells the story of a very special puppet and his Creator.
- The Theolaby Book Set by Jennie Allen This a five book series where each book tells part of God’s great plan, the first book is out and is called I am Creator.
Share Verses
Do you have some favorite verses about God’s love and faithfulness or our call to love Him? This is a great time to share them with your kids. Here are a few to get you started: John 3:16-17, 1 John 4:8, Mark 12:29-31, 1 John 3:18, and Zephaniah 3:17.
As you celebrate Valentine’s day this year, take some time to talk about how much God loves your kids and give them ways to show Him love in return.