Now we've talked about love,
but I would define relationship this way.
Relationship is putting content
to this commitment to love.
Let me say that again.
Relationship is putting content
to this commitment to love.
You have, by this time hopefully,
convinced that child that they are loved
but you now have an opportunity
to deepen the bonds of love.
And I want to give you three words that I think will help
as we talk about putting content to love.
Here's the first word - interest.
Interest,
presence
and community.
Interest,
presence
and community.
Now, I hear people all the time
say how hard it is for them
to read through Leviticus.
It's just all those weird laws
and it just gets so boring.
I have the exact opposite when I read Leviticus.
I think how could it be possible
that this God would love me this much,
that he would care about
every single little detail in my life.
The details in Leviticus
are a sure sign of how deep
and individual and personal God's love is.
God cares about every financial transaction you make.
If you're a woman, He cares about your cycle.
He does.
If you read through Leviticus,
you're blown away, you can't think of anything
that's normal in a human life that God doesn't care about
and hasn't spoken to.
How great is His love?
Do that with your kids.
Care about the details of their lives.
Get down on the floor with them
and ask him why this particular thing.
Why do they like the little LOL character so much?
You don't know what that is.
You don't have young children right now
or you're not a grandparent.
Why?
Talk to them, care about the little details.
Listen, all they have is little details.
And if you don't care about them, the message is,
yeah, you say you love me
but you don't care about my world at all.
In fact, my world is just a world
that causes you to step on things you don't want to step on
and messes up the living room.
It is really true that even committed parents
show the most interest in what interests children
when those interests irritate them.
Care about those things, begin to ask yourself,
how is this child gifted?
Are they mechanical?
Are they musical?
Are they artistic?
How can I buy into that?
How can I do that with them?
How can I support the development of those interests
and those gifts?
Sit with your child on the couch
and watch things that you would never watch
and that interests you not at all.
Be interested.
How lovely and security given it is
for a child to wake up in the morning
and in their brain is
everything in my life
is important to my mom and dad.