What a child doesn’t receive he can seldom later give.—P.D. James

It has always been my belief that the more we feel loved, the less likely we are to do those foolish things that we will come to regret. I think this is true of all of us.

It is not the secure young girl who gives herself cheaply. Nor is it the confident young man who struggles for identity in a gang. What we are all looking for is love! To be loved for who we are. To be loved in spite of who we are (humanly speaking, of course, for divinely speaking, we are pure perfection). To be loved even though we have made mistakes or might, God forbid, continue to make them.

There’s a word for that. It’s called unconditional love! There’s this funny thing that we deal with down here. We’re all human, and yet we’re all divine. We make mistakes and errors, and yet, at the core, we are powerful spiritual beings. I try to remind myself of this. That I am – and indeed you are – a spiritual being having a physical experience.

Our children require our love more than ever! They have to know that we are there for them through thick and thin, through rough times and good ones. How I hope my children feel my love for them. I hope they see my love in my service to them as I care for them each day. I hope they feel my love in my words of praise and encouragement. I hope they experience my love in the snuggles and cuddles we share. I hope they know that they are loved beyond measure. I even hope they know I love them when I correct them…or perhaps that is asking a little too much of kids!

I pray to God Almighty to teach me how to love my children with the love that He/She has for them. You know, when I was pregnant, I was all into this, create-the-image-of-what-you-desire-for-your-child thing. I’m very into early education and yet a clever child was not what I desired most. Most of all I prayed for a child of Love. Because, after all, God is Love.

Let us not be like one person who said, “Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.”[i]Rather, let us look back and say, I expressed love to my children at every opportunity, in every way possible, and today I’m proud of the loving individuals they have become!

Your turn now! Is love the most important quality you would teach your kids? Share why or why not.

 [i] Quoting Ray Stannard Baker, BrainyQuote, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/ray_stannard_baker.html