How Do We Know God Loves Us?

Around our house, Valentine’s Day ends up being a big celebration each year because our middle, Ezra, was born on a blizzardy Valentine’s night eight years ago.

Ezra a few birthdays ago :)

When I was planning on what to write this week, with all the hearts and candy and celebration here, I thought I’d be cute and interview my kids about God’s love.

Problem was, my verbal, poetic, thoughtful oldest was either at school or at after school activities, so I was left with my more literal, younger boys to get me what I hoped would be good content.

I’m not proud to say that at first, I was disappointed:

Me: How do you know God loves you?

Ezra: Because he lives in my heart.

Me: Who shows you God’s love?

Ezra: Because parents love you.

Me: Is that same or different kind of love?

Ezra: The same.

Me: When did others show you God’s love?

Ezra (lighting up): On my birthday at school, almost all of my friends gave me hugs!

Me: When do you show God’s love?

Ezra: When I encourage my friends at basketball. Hugs. Saying sorry.

Me: Josiah, how do you know if God loves you?

Josiah (hands out like DUH): Because he made us!!

What I realized later (along with chagrin about mining for content with my kids) was that actually, their simple answers were deceivingly profound.

How do we know God loves us?

God chose to make his home in our hearts. God made us. Both acts of God and of grace that have nothing to do with circumstances or our human choices or beliefs. God loves us because we are God’s.

Who shows us God’s love?

Parents. Classmates. The communities around us. Kids especially, but all of us, have few better ways to know God’s love apart from those who care for us. Their nurture and celebration are how we experience the Divine in our flesh.

How do we show God’s love?

We encourage those around us. We hold each other. We repair relationships.

When it’s all stripped down, my boys’ Sunday school answers and short sentences actually give us a lot to think about this Valentine’s week.

I’m sure it’s overreaching but maybe, just maybe, what my kids described is what Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for: the Beloved Community.

Beloved- God made us. God wants to be with us.

Community-We know God’s love when we’re cared for. We show God’s love when we encourage, listen, lament, and restore.

This week, how would it change you if you knew God loved you not because of what you have done but because God is your maker? That God LIKES being with you?

How could you show God’s love in tangible ways to those around you?

How can you invite others to know and show God’s love with you?

Incidentally, I wanted to share this podcast that is one of the best listens I’ve encountered in the last year (and I listen to a LOT of interviews): Helping Kids Know God in Healthy Ways with Meredith Anne Miller and Dan Koch It might be a good first step for those of us who want our families to be shaped by God’s love and not harmful ways of thinking/acting about our faith rooted in anything else.