Happy Valentine’s Day!
In Sprouts class where I teach 3- and 4-year-old children, Valentine’s Day is a day to express our love to our family members, friends, neighbors, and most importantly to our God. And we learn through art & crafts activities, reading stories about love, singing worship songs, and sending each other Valentines.
Our school verse “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31) is part of scripture of “Love for enemies”. Now how can we show love for enemies? I didn’t know so tried a short bible plan to learn what bible says how to love our enemies. Here’s what I got.
- Pray for them
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44)
- Bless them
“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,” (Proverbs 25:22)
- Forgive them
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse,” (Romans 12:14)
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13)
- Expect nothing from them
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1Peter 5:6-7)
- Trust God to handle it
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)
When I looked at the five things above, I realized those are what we can do not just for our enemies but also for our loved ones and even for yourself, too. And above all, 1. “Pray” Is the first priority to me.
When we learn about “praying” in class, I start by saying it is the time to talk to God. Because if we can talk to God, it means we have a relationship with God, and that is something I want my students to have. As a Japanese native, I think “praying” is very much misunderstood as “hoping” or “wishing” in this country. I now believe a prayer is not about hoping or wishing but about believing God as someone who loves and takes care of us, so I can share anything I want, literally anything, all my worries, sadness, frustration, anger, doubts, and of course happiness, thankfulness, and lastly but not least, love. Heavenly Father, relationship with you is the best blessing to me. I pray that more people come to have a relationship with you…
Happy Valentine’s day!
