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Love is Patient




From time to time I will be posting a short teaching moment I had with the young children who attend our church preschool. This one involved a purposely mistaken drawing of my home. I say purpose;ly mistaken so you don't think I live in some weird world.

So, I started coloring again. I was going to wait to show anyone, but I just couldn’t wait. I’m going to show you a picture of me at my house on a sunny day.

Doesn’t this look good? What do you think? Am I a natural artist?

These kids, who I've noticed struggle with staying in the lines, were quick to notice my mistakes. Of course, that was the point.

It looks like I got a lot of things mixed up in my drawing. Sometimes we get things all mixed up in life. Do you ever fight with your brother or sister? Have you ever told your mom or dad no? Have you ever refused to share? Ever been grumpy?

Did you know that sometimes even moms and dads get things mixed up? Even adults get angry, sometimes we fight and say things we should not. We need to do better.

Fortunately, God loves us, even when we mess up. And one of the things we can learn about love is that love is patient. That means God is willing to wait for us to do better. And while He waits, He loves us and forgives us.

We need to show love this way as well. We need to be patient with our friends and wait our turn. We need to be patient with our brothers and sisters and share our toys. And we need to be patient with our parents, when we need them to help us.

Because love is patient!

I’ll have to fix this drawing, but it might take time for me to learn how to be a good artist. I’ll have to practice patience.
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