Marriage & Parenting Made EasySample

The Heart of Parenting: Chamber 1: Love:

Congratulations! You made it through the first half of this YouVersion plan. Now that we’ve discussed the four chambers of your marriage’s heart, we get to move on to the heart of parenting. Today we’ll discuss the first of its four chambers: love.

Luckily for us, this section is rather rudimentary. How do you permeate your home with love? How do you permeate your parenting with love?

Love Jesus. It’s that simple—no reason to overcomplicate things. If you love Him with real love, everything else will follow. But it’s got to be real love—not just some sentimental head nod. It’s loving Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

If you love Jesus, you will love what He loves (John 14:23-24). If we love Him and love what He loves, our children will pick up on that. It’s not just “for show” for your kids’ sake. Search your heart and make sure it’s the real thing. Love them because He first loved you, and His love flows out of you.

It will also help you to recognize and live like you are loved as a child of God! His love for us is immeasurable; it exemplifies what unconditional, undeserved, amazing love looks like. Take that same love shown to you, and pour it out on others—especially your children!

Quick reality check: Things won’t always run smoothly. Sometimes, you’ll have to let your child—or preteen, young adult, or fully grown adult child—come to their senses. If they won’t listen to you, that’s okay. Pray for them. Pray that they come to their senses as the prodigal son did in Luke 15:17-20!

There is plenty of biblical wisdom surrounding love and how to walk in it. Take time now to read Proverbs 1:10-12 and Psalm 1:1-3. Pray those two passages of scripture over your children.

Great parenting begins when we humble ourselves before God and wholeheartedly embrace the truth that we are first and foremost children of God and that He is parenting us just like we need to parent our kids.

Be intentional this next week to spend time with your family and love on your kids. Plan to sit down together and eat at least a few meals with the whole family!