…God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5b

Valentine’s Day conjures up fun childhood memories like: red and pink construction paper hearts, paper-lace doilies, lollipops and chocolates. Oh, and remember taping heart-shaped mailboxes to our school desks?

I treasured every classmate’s Valentine’s Day cards as if they were meant just for me, ignoring the fact that every classmate got the same or similar message. I’d read and re-read every card and tack each one to my corkboard above my bed as a reminder of their affection.

Holding my newborn son, I wondered how I could ever communicate God’s affection for him. It wasn’t as easy as sending him a red heart on Valentine’s Day or giving him a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Of course I would show him God’s love through my own affection and care, but how would he concretely know the love of an invisible God?

I don’t know what my thought process was exactly, but as he started “reading” simple word books, it occurred to me to introduce God in a similar way.

Here’s one example:

When we played outside and his toddler finger pointed to something in nature (leaves, grass, flowers, birds, etc) I’d name the object and say, “Flower. God made pretty flowers.” Or, “Birds say ‘tweet, tweet. God made those birds.” Sounds simple and it was. Quite elementary, actually, but isn’t that the place to start? Simple. Elementary. Until the child can grasp not only the object’s name, but who created it?

Nature served as God’s Valentine’s cards—love notes from God—meant just for my son. As he matured and grew, his natural curiosity led to deeper questions beyond, “What’s that?” to “Why did God make flowers?” or “Who put the stars in the sky?” These questions opened doors to God-talks and laid the foundation for his own relationship with God.

While building a spiritual foundation is important for our children, it’s important to realize we are not responsible for their personal relationship with God. It’s personal. It’s theirs. And, we cannot control the when, where, how or certainty of their responsiveness to God. God sends His Holy Spirit to woo us toward intimacy with Him, their creator. It is only our responsibility, as Christian parents, to lay the foundation and nurture the atmosphere for spiritual growth.

How do we do that? That’s for another blog post, entirely.

Blessings,