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Loving well is the best and most profound act of life.
Sally Clarkson, Own Your Life Book
Today, I am in Oxford and have spent every minute chattering with Joy, after several days of talking, sharing life and being best friends with Sarah. Twice I have talked to Nathan in the past 3 days and Joel as well. We really love one another and share best friendships together. (And of course Clay is an integral part of this crazy family called the Clarksons.)
Today, I have realized, again, how profoundly important love has been for our family, as the foundation for all that we have built in our hearts, souls and minds. Nathan and I have recorded a podcast with you that I think you will love about 5 of the Best Ways to love your children. We are releasing our new book, Only You Can Be You that speaks to giving a foundation of this love to our children so that they might understand better the love of God. Enjoy and if you want, you might enjoy this fun book, too, but if not, enjoy the blog and podcast.
"Mama, you love me the most, right?" ....Our joke through all the years but repeated over and over again.
"I love you the "Joyest" and you the "Nathanest" and you the "Sarahest" and you the "Joelest" my sweets.
Seems that even now, I am often texting, emailing, fb'ing my kids how much I love them, how special they are to me, how much they are beloved by God.
All of my children have gone through bouts of doubt when confronted by a constant barrage of challenges. All four have written notes to me to say our constant love is what pulled them through. "You always believed in us, you were always at our back. You never gave up!"
A heritage of being loved and cherished is profoundly important in the life of any human being.
Surrounded by people who care for their needs, commit to cherishing them from birth to death, wrapping them in the bonds of unconditional love is a legacy that will give them strength, hope and vision through the rest of their lives.
It is something that cannot be bought or quantified or boxed. Love is real, day in day out, giving of ourselves to the benefit and values of others God has place in our lives--a giving of ourselves for the blessing of others. When we love and touch it pre-disposes our children to remember the caresses and affection of love and will cause them to be more prone to believe in the love of God when they are teens and we tell them God loves them.
When children are deprived of love as an infant, consequences to their health, emotional stability, understanding and perception of God, ability to hold relationships and even intelligence is effected the rest of their lives. Of course, Christ is able to redeem and restore all things. I know in my own life that restoration and healing are possible. But in this fallen world, the process of healing may take awhile.
God created all of us with a deep need to be loved, and a capacity to love generously.
Being loved perfectly was God's original design, it was born in His heart when he created us to know Him intimately.
If I could point to one thing that truly had an impact in my children, it was giving them a foundation of unconditional love. Generous, overwhelming, words of affirmation, an expectation of forgiveness, acts of service, and many more gestures of love is what opened our children's hearts to listen to our messages about God.
Love done well is expressed in the messy details of life.
Loving them as they are, appreciating the personality that God has given them, restoring them to generous love when they have failed, pouring out love even when they were at arm's length, focussing on love as the lens through which I looked at life as a mother, giving out words of love on a daily basis--sometimes many times a day, became the fuel for building a fire in their hearts to want to love God.
When love is modeled as a way of life, then a child has the brain patterns, the very familiarity of how love feels from a parent, and will then be more able to experience the love of God when introduced to it as a concept.
We read:
God is love.
Greater love has no one than this than a man lay down his life for his friend.
The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others.
Love one another and so fulfill the law of Christ.
They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.
So many times, parents are afraid that if they show their love for their children too much, they will spoil them.
Has anyone ever loved you too much? Or do you wish for more love?
Today Nathan and I are talking all about the WHYs of Only You Can Be You! We hope you’ll join us. And be sure to order your copy of this delightful book!
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