Daily Truth: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Valentine’s Day is a favorite day for young and old alike. This day for elementary age children is fun as making or selecting Valentine cards for friends and classmates brings a sense of excitement and a way to show how much you care about someone. The preschool age and early elementary age is a great time to teach how important love is to God through the Valentine celebration.
Truths For Tots
Love shares: The songs below could be acted out with Valentine cards.
I’m a Little Valentine
(Tune: I’m a Little Teapot)
I’m a little Valentine
Red and white
With ribbons and lace
I’m a beautiful site.
I can say, “I love you,”
On Valentine’s Day.
Just put me in an envelope
And give me away!
Share
(Tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)
( I like to use various sizes and colors of hearts
with this song to teach about “real” sharing.)
Valentines are made to share,
Made to share,
Made to share.
Valentines are made to share
With my friends at school.
I made you a Valentine,
Valentine, Valentine
I made you a Valentine
That says, “I love you”.
(And then each child trades hearts.
We will sing this several times
as hearts are traded.)
Discuss how the Bible is a collection of God’s love letters that He shares with us. Place some cut out hearts with a Bible verse written on each heart. (Some Bible verses to write on the heart may include: John 3:16, Psalm 86:15, Romans 8:37-39, and Zephaniah 3:17) Place these hearts in a Bible (Could place in a children’s Bible on pages of illustrations of Jesus’ showing love to others.) Open the Bible and pull out the heart and read the verse “God’s love letter” to us.
Discuss some ways in which we could let God’s love show through our lives not only on Valentine’s Day but every day.
Truths For Parents
Let’s look at the verse 1 Corinthians 13:13 more in depth. The Children’s Ministry Resource Bible published by Thomas Nelson provides us with great definitions for key words in this verse.
Faith-“believing without question what God says about Himself and about what He will do”
Hope-“looking forward with confidence to receiving good things that God has promised to give me in the future”
Love-“a quiet, steady decision of the will to care for another person, totally apart from any good quality or ability or desire to respond on the part of the object of love; feeling of great affection that causes me to give and do things for another person”
By better knowing and understanding the meanings of each word we are better equipped to teach our children. Teach your child that God gave His Word to tell us about His love and to give us a living example of His love.
Think about the ways in which you show love to your family. You are your children’s living example of love.
Loving the Lord first will give us the ability to show love to our families no matter what life situation is occurring.
May you have a “lovely” Valentine’s Day. ❤
Until the next “Truth” sharing moment,
Cathy Jo Johnson
