Works For Me Wednesday:Valentine's Day Opportunities

As we draw near to Valentine's Day, images of hearts and love birds dance in our minds. Parties and cards and the blessed class list each take their time from our schedules.

If you have boys, picking cards is a nightmare. Your options revolve around which ones are "cool" and have the absolute least gooshy word phrases on them (so no one will get the wrong idea).

I ask you, do any such cards really exist??

And if so, why bother???

Lucky for me, my 9 and 11 year old have renounced the tradition of giving cards to classmates this year. I say lucky, because tonight, instead of overseeing the writing of the Valentine's cards (which is never a fun thing to do), I had time to just sit and think.

Naturally, I thought of Valentine's Day. . . a day all about showing love to the people we care about.

The best example of love I can think of is the sacrifice Jesus himself made on our behalf. How awesome to know that Jesus paid for our admission to Heaven with his blood.

How humbling as well. Most days I feel like the majority of the sins he died for were all mine. I'm ever grateful for His unconditional, undeserved love.

But His love doesn't stop with the Cross. It goes on in the fact that he has a plan for each and every one of us, including our children. God sees them as battle instruments against our enemy, Satan.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Psalms 127:3-5

That makes us Arrow Makers.

So what kind of arrows are we fashioning? Will they be straight and strong, and ready to be used by God against the enemy? It is sobering to realize that God wants to use our children to destroy Satan's plans for evil!

It's like we're making little "smart bombs" (in today's terminology) . Or maybe not.

Smart Bombs armed with the Love of God. An interesting thought.

Perhaps I should stop thinking.

Anyway, taking a moment this Valentine's Day to remind our kids of who loved them first, and most, is What Works For Me.