…walk in the way of love…

Ephesians 5:2a NIV

In a kindergarten class that I was teaching for the first time, I had a rambunctious little boy in the group who was sent to visit the principal on his very first day of school. Because I really wanted to bond with this child, I tried my best to give him lots of positive feedback during the lesson.

When it came time to hand out puppets, I made sure that he was one of the six children who got to hold one. I always told the kids that the last puppet picked needed to be given the most love because it was chosen last. I gave the last puppet to this little fellow and asked if he could make sure to give it extra love.

He bounced up to the front of the room and eagerly took hold of his calico cat puppet, giving it a two-armed bear hug. As he stood there swaying, squeezing the puppet, and beaming, he said, “I’ll give it extra love ’cause I have a thousand pieces of love to give!”

As Christ followers, we all have a thousand pieces of love to give! Since God is love, and since His Holy Spirit lives in us when we follow Him, we have an unlimited supply of love to share. We can be channels of His love!

Let’s start each morning asking God to put people in our paths with whom we can leave pieces of His love. Let’s keep our spiritual ears, eyes, hearts, and minds open to God and follow His nudges to shower pieces of love on others. We can strike up encouraging conversations with those waiting in the grocery store line. We can be considerate while driving, genuinely listen for understanding, send friendly messages or notes, or express genuine appreciation to a restaurant server.

With God’s guidance, we as Christians can leave pieces of love in our comings and goings through every day of our lives. In doing so, we’ll be making God proud of us, we’ll be setting a good example for Christianity, and we’ll be spreading sunshine to those we encounter.

Let’s make a habit of walking in the way of love!}