Mom Heart Moments #322

I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“MOM, IF THERE IS ONE PLACE in the world where I fit, it is in our family. It’s not about the place; it is about belonging to each other, ‘getting’ each other, accepting each other, and celebrating life together. That is what I most miss about being at home,” one child said to me over the phone, anticipating a return home for an upcoming holiday.

Every child longs for a place to belong, a sanctuary that gives life and love and protects from all the evils that lurk outside its walls. Love should be the very air that our children breathe, the foundation from which character is built and from which all instruction comes.

Love, first.

If we really studied, pondered, cherished, and applied the ways of Jesus’ love as it is shown in Scripture, wouldn’t the way we mother look different? Do we love our children the way God calls us to love everyone?

If love is the foundational need in the deep places of our hearts, then knowing that our children have this need should shape how we seek to influence them. Our children will measure and assess in their hearts the reality of God by how we display His love in our home. We are to love our children as much as we love ourselves, to lay down our lives for them, as He did for us.

God’s love covered us when we were still failing, stumbling, wallowing in our selfishness. God, as our Father, saved us while we were still in our sin. Children know they are imperfect and stumble and sin. Can we love them, as God has loved us?

Is there any attitude or action that can separate your child from your love, or is it generous, consistent, forgiving, and long-suffering?