“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.” 1 John 4:7
As a Valentine to my readers, I have written this month’s blog for parents and anyone else looking for a unique way to explain the power of God’s love.
In this precious board book written by Amy Parker, a little hedgehog asks his mama, “How big is love?”1
The mama hedgehog, in her profound wisdom, explains, “Our love grows every time we give it away.
I recently used this book to illustrate the power of God’s love to a group of teenagers in my church. Even though Amy Parker’s book is written for children ages two to six, my youth group loved it! They laughed at the fun illustrations of butterflies and bath bubbles by Breezy Brookshire. They gave a unified chorus of “Awww” on the last page when Mama gave Little One “a great big hug.”
To further demonstrate the exponential power of love, I held up a sheet of red cardstock, shaped like a rectangle, and told my youth this piece of paper represented God’s love.
Then I asked them to count the corners.
They quickly answered, “Four.”
After praising them for the correct answer, I explained that I wanted to share some of “God’s love” with them; so I cut off one corner and handed it to a student. This corner of “God’s love” became a triangle.
I asked the students to tell me again how many corners the rectangle had before I had shared it. They repeated, “Four.”
“Let’s see,” I said as I held up my original sheet of “God’s love.”
They smiled as we all counted to five!
I reminded the students that although I had given away one corner of God’s love, the remaining corners had increased instead of decreased.
I then turned to the student who had received a single corner of “God’s love” and asked her to count the corners of the piece I had shared with her. Instead of one corner, however, she now had three.
This simple illustration made a visual impact on my youth group. To close the lesson, I gave all the students individual squares of red paper and asked them to share the story and a piece of “God’s love” with a friend or a loved one.
I reminded them again of the mama hedgehog’s advice to her little one. Because of God’s love, “our love grows every time we give it away.”
1 Corinthians 13:13; John 3:16
1Parker, Amy. How Big Is Love? Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2016.
Please visit www.amyparkerbooks.com for more information about Amy’s companion books How Far Is Faith and How High Is Hope.
Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!