Love

We are almost to the end of February. Hard to believe!
There has been a lot to do this short month!
We have had two days off, been focusing on African-American History Month, and of course, there was Valentine’s Day.
Last week Thursday, we celebrated Valentine’s Day at school and the students were so thrilled to be able to share with each other and the adults in the school.
How have you shown your appreciation and love, to the special people in your life this month? Did you give gifts, cards, words of appreciation? In our classroom last week, we exchanged a variety of Valentine items.
Have you ever thought about all the meanings of the word “love”? There are at least eight types of love; from love that focuses totally on ourselves to love that focuses totally on others.
We know the greatest love is that of the Father who sent His Son to be our redeemer. This selfless love is known as agape love. We come close to this as parents, spouses, and teachers in Christian schools.
Have you ever thought of how appreciation and love go together?
It is easy during the day, or month that focuses on love to make the effort to show love and appreciation to others. But how often do we do this the rest of the year?
The Bible tells us where our treasure is, there is our heart. What do you appreciate? What do you value? (Matthew 6:21)
When we place value on something or someone we are willing to sacrifice for what we value.
The parents here at Grace value what we are able to provide for the children they have placed in our care; the Christ-centered education, the caring staff, the safe environment, the quality education, and the extras we offer.
The teachers value what we are able to provide, as they give of their time, their talents, and their treasures to offer more to the children.
Both school and church families make sacrifices for the children to attend Grace.
Our school families make the commitment and sacrifice to give up some things in their lives to be able to pay tuition, so the children are able to attend Grace and receive a Christ-centered education.
There are sacrifices and commitments with both our school & church families.
At the beginning of time, there was also a commitment and later a sacrifice made so that we too would not be without. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, our LORD made the commitment, a promise, to send His Son at a later time to make a purchase – He would buy us back using Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.
The LORD values us so much that He was not willing to be separated from us. He had created everything with a plan for us to be in Heaven one day with Him. When the evil one thought he had ruined the LORD’s plan – our Father revealed how He much value he places on us by offering up His Son as the ultimate Sacrifice – John 3:16. This was not a last-minute plan, but one the LORD knew from before time began – 1 Peter 1:20, He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
The LORD has shown us time and again He values us – What do you value? What do you appreciate? How have you shown it lately?