The Mom, Wife, Dream Life

Loving Jesus takes effort on our part as adults, and it especially takes effort and work on our part as parents to teach that to our children.

Why is it so Hard to love Jesus sometimes?

Learning to love our Savior isn’t always as easy as it seems for some. Some people struggle to love Jesus because of roadblocks in their lives or distractions that keep them from focusing on Him. Some of these roadblocks or distractions may include:

• Technology: This may block someone from loving Jesus, as people are more focused on their phones than on Him. If you have noticed, anywhere you go, no matter what you are doing, someone in the room or location is going to be nose to nose with their phone. Unfortunately, this is the norm nowadays. Phones have become so engulfed in our society that hardly anyone bats an eye when another person pulls out their phone mid-conversation. How sad that it’s such a common and allowed thing that we are distracted from the things in life that matter most, such as focusing on Jesus and loving Him through our thoughts, actions, and purposes.

• Negative thoughts/feelings: The obvious reasoning for this one being a distraction is that those negative thoughts and feelings don’t come from Jesus; they come from the adversary, also known as Satan. Negative thoughts distract our minds from focusing on the positive and allow our minds to grow, seek opportunities to become better people, and find happiness in life. Negative feelings fall into this same category as well. They prevent us from feeling those uplifting emotions, feelings of joy, peace, and even feelings of motivation.

• Temptation: When we are tempted to do things that are wrong or things that misalign with our morals or values, we begin focusing on those things to the point we dismiss the love we have for Christ and doing what’s right. When we are disobedient to the things that Jesus has asked of us, we are ignoring the chance and opportunity we have to learn from Him, and to ultimately show Him that we love Him.

Many other things distract us and block us from expressing, feeling, and really loving Jesus Christ, but those are the main three things that I can think of in my life and in the lives of people around me that keep me from loving Jesus as well as I possibly can.

Is it Hard to Teach Our Kids How to Love Jesus?

Teaching and leading by example to our children on how we can love Christ is a little difficult when I am still trying to do it myself, but it’s manageable. We are capable of teaching our children the meaning of Christmas, the meaning of Easter, and the meaning of each Sunday because we focus it around our Savior, Jesus Christ. When we enter our home, we have pictures of Jesus on our walls, in our living rooms, and even little Christus statues in each of our bedrooms. Reminding our children that they are never alone, they can pray to talk to Jesus anytime they want to.

I actually made up this song that I am planning to teach the girls in the tune of “Ring Around the Rosies.” It goes like this:

I keep Jesus in my heart,

All of the time.

When I’m happy, scared, or sad,

I fall down on my knees to pray.

It’s simple, but it teaches them that no matter what they are feeling, or what they are doing, they can think of Jesus, talk to Jesus, and turn to Him whenever they want or need to. 

We as adults need to remember this as well; we are not left alone just because we are adults. Thankfully, we too can sing this song and be reminded of the love we have for Jesus. We can remind ourselves that Christ wants to hear from us, He loves us, and He is always there for us, no matter where we are in our lives. Teaching that to our children doesn’t have to seem so daunting. What we must remind ourselves of is that we are still learning, too. Though we need to be patient with our children as they learn to love and learn how to love Jesus, we should be patient with ourselves as we teach it, and we continue to polish up the love we are trying to obtain.

How Can I Teach My Children To Love Jesus More? 

There are hundreds of ways we can teach our children how to love Jesus. Here are just a few you can do:

• Family Home Evening/Family Time: Whatever you may call this is up to you, but we call it FHE or Family Home Evening. This is a day we pick throughout the week where we sit down with our girls, we sing a song together, pray together, we read scriptures, and sometimes we watch a little video clip to help us all better understand the scriptures that correlate with the video. We often try to do FHE with a fun, memorable activity that the girls will enjoy. We’ve had take-out living room picnics, had a dance party, baked cookies and took them to someone, made a craft, etc. There are lots of ways to incorporate Jesus into these activities and throughout the lesson and night. 

• Going to Church: This is an obvious way we can show our love for Jesus. Going to church sparks that testimony in each of us; it allows us to strengthen it and expand it to further knowledge and understanding of our Savior. This allows deeper connections to form with each other as a family, with close friends, and ultimately with Christ. Those relationships become the foundations of our lives, and should mold the morals and values we keep throughout our lives.

• Artwork and Environment: Creating and maintaining an environment that allows Christ to be present in our lives. This may look different for each family, but for us, this looks like pictures and paintings of Jesus Christ hung up in our home, Christus statues in the main living spaces in our home. Gentle quotes and words of encouragement in the living room. Books about the Savior, His teachings, and His Gospel on the shelves in our home, listening to uplifting music, or music that’s clean and makes it feel good inside, watching clean and appropriate shows and movies that teach good lessons, surrounding ourselves with people that carry the same values, morals, and desire to love God, etc.

Teaching love isn’t hard. It should be the front of our lives. Loving Jesus and loving God should be one of the very first things we do in this life. Teaching it to our children is easy when we, too, are doing these things ourselves. When we lead by example, our children watch, they observe, they listen, and they recreate the behaviors they see. Teach your children to love. To love God, Jesus, themselves, and those around them. We are all deserving of love, and we all deserve to love just as much.

“Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

McKenna Sanders

The Mom, Wife, Dream Life Blog

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