Do you love your kids? How much so? What are your dreams or desires for them? What are you willing to do, to sacrifice for them? Why do you love your kids so much? Why is their happiness so important to you?
For most parents, the above are somewhat rhetorical. We all love our kids, significantly so. In writing this blog, I wanted to explore “why” we love them the way we do, really unlike anyone else in our lives other than our spouses.
We All Love Our Kids
This past weekend, we had our three adult children, Danielle (30, married, and a mother), Tricia (27 and getting married this month), and Robert (24 and engaged to be married in August), in town by themselves. It was just the five of us. Although I love the choices our kids have made in their mates, I really pushed for this weekend. We’ve not done this since Danielle was pregnant with Lucy, who is now three.
The weekend was great. We did some laughing and crying. We did some remembering and talking of the future, including Tricia’s wedding in just 2 weeks. It was a weekend of love, like old times.
So why so special…this relationship with our kids? To me, there are two reasons:
- Living life together for such a long time; investment in one another
- Kids being born of their parents; really being part of their parents…biologically, emotionally, and spiritually
It’s Not the Same
I enjoy spending time with my parents and brothers…much the same with my kids, we get to share memories from the past and plans for the future. The difference is I’m the son and the brother rather than the parent in that scenario. It’s not the same.
Last week I wrote on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which depicts the closest thing there is to God’s love for all of us as being a parent’s love for his/her child.
As Related to God’s Love
Flipping the above and looking towards Easter this Sunday, I don’t think it was until I was a parent that I began to understand (or had a glimpse of) why God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, love each and everyone one of us, HIS PRECIOUS CHILDREN, so much. God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done (much like a parent loves his/her child).
In going from Good Friday, where we’ll see the purest form of love there’s ever been (Jesus dying on the Cross), to Easter Sunday, it’s my prayer that all of us experience the love of God and as such, can live lives of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment. That’s the prayer I say every day for my wife and kids. That’s my prayer for you as well.
Couple questions to ponder:
- How much do you love your kids?
- Do you see a correlation between that and the love God has for you?
Take those questions to prayer and as always, contact me with questions or comments at [email protected].
God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
Mark Joseph