Really Loving

We have just been on a great holiday in Holland. While we were there we took the children several times to the swimming pool which was hard work but also a lot of fun.

One day I was sitting with my 3 year old in the toddler pool and watching all the toddlers play. There was a lady helping her little son get used to the slide by holding him at first, and then catching him.

I noticed that she had a big smile on her face, and at first I thought it was just to encourage him, but then I realised that she was still smiling even when he had got used to it and was out of sight. She was just delighting in his enjoyment.

It suddenly dawned on me then that if we really are loving our kids properly we will enjoy looking after them at parks and swimming pools because we love to see them have fun. When you are dating someone and in love with them you love to be with them, and love to see them blessed and enjoying themselves.

When I only had one baby I was the same, delighting in every move he made. But now I have three I am a lot more tired, so I often endure more than enjoy those times.

I also have so much to do that I tend to think of things in terms of checking off my to do list. And watching the children play doesn’t tick anything off! But it is loving them, which we are told to do, so in God’s eyes it is definitely something I should be doing.

So I was convicted to return to my first love. In the Bible we are told as women to love people many times. But are we loving to the extent that we are filled with joy just from seeing them blessed?

This was a wake up call for me to stop thinking of how tired I am and what else I should be doing and really love and enjoy my children!

Part of ‘What God is Teaching Me’ on Saturdays
Linking up to Spiritual Sundays