Holidays

Who is Valentine?

As always, we want our children to know the reason for any celebration and see how it might relate to Christ.  Here’s what my research found:

Historical Information

Valentine was a priest near Rome in about 270 AD.  At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius felt that married men made poor soldiers so he abolished marriage.  Valentine  invited young lovers to come to him in secret where he joined them in marriage.  When the emperor heard of this ‘friend of lovers’, he was impressed with his conviction and attempted to convert him to the Roman gods while Valentine attempted to convert the emperor to Christianity.  When Valentine would not renounce Christianity, he was imprisoned.

While in prison, he witnessed to the guards.  One of the guards had adopted a blind girl and asked Valentine if his God could help the daughter see again.  Valentine prayed and the girl was given her sight.  The guard and his whole familly believed in Jesus and were baptised.  Valentine fell in love with the girl.  When the emperor heard about Valentine making converts in prison, he was furious and had Valentine beheaded.

Before Valentine died, he signed a farewell message to his love and signed it ‘from your Valentine’, a phrase that has lived long after its author died.  Thus began the sending of  Valentines.

Because of Valentine’s dedication to the Lord, he was made a saint by the Catholic church.   The church was seeking to usurp the popularity of the Roman god Lupercus.  At the Lupercusian festival each year around the middle of February, a young man was assigned a woman companion for his ‘pleasure’ until the next year at the festival when he would get a different woman.  The Catholic church was determined to put an end to this 800 year old immoral practice and Valentine seemed to be the ideal candidate to become a ‘lovers’ saint.

How to Relate This to Children:

The ruler of Rome, Emperor Claudius, thought there were many gods, but a man named Valentine told people that Jesus is the one true God.  This made the Emperor Claudius very angry so he had Valentine put in jail.  But even in jail, Valentine kept telling people about Jesus.  The guard in the prison had a blind daughter and he asked Valentine if God could heal her.  Valentine prayed for her and God caused her to see again.  The guard and his whole family believed in Jesus after that.

The emperor was so upset when he heard that Valentine was still telling people about Jesus, that he had him killed.  Before Valentine died he sent a message to the jailer’s daughter whom he had fallen in love with.  He signed the message ‘from your Valentine’ and this is where the sending of ‘Valentines’ began.

Because Valentine loved Jesus so much, the Catholic church named him a ‘saint’ which is what someone is called that loves Jesus and cares about others.  Each year we think about those we love and send them Valentines.  Let’s remember that that the first Valentine was sent by a man who loved Jesus very much.

On Valentine’s Day we may get flowers, cards, candy, or other things from friends who love us,  but the very best gift that was sent to show love to us long ago when Jesus was born to one day die on the cross for the wrong things we have done.  The Bible says “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

Activities:

Emphasize God’s love for them, their love for God, and love for others as you work.

  • Help your children make Valentines for their friends, include any of the following verses on them.  Talk about the verses as you make the cards:

1 John 4:9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death.
1 John 4:16b:  God is love.
1 John 4:19:  We love because he [God] first loved us
1 John 5:3:  This is love for GOD:  to obey his commands.
John 15:12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
1 John 4:11  Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too.

  • Make a giant heart out of red poster board.  Write Luke 10:27 Love the Lord your God with all your heart on the heart.   Cut it into age-appropriate puzzle pieces.  As you put each piece together say, “that’s not all my heart” until the puzzle is finished.  Then read the verse and encourage the child to say, “God, I love you with all my heart”.  If you have several children you can make two heart puzzles and race to see who can give God all their heart first.


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Christmas is Jesus’ Birthday!

The excitement of Christmas has already begun at our house. Our California children have flown in for the month, the tree is decorated, the stockings are hung (wow – 10 of them this year), most of the Christmas lists are made out, and soon the baking, shopping, and parties will be in full swing.  It is so easy in all this activity to let the real meaning of Christmas go unmentioned.  We adults know that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday but how are our children going to know unless we tell them.  They may see this only as a time when all the relatives get together or there’s lots of goodies to eat or everyone gives them gifts.

Bring Christ into every activity of Christmas.  Make every effort to teach the real meaning of Christmas through everything you do:

  • While decorating the tree share that the evergreen tree reminds us of the everlasting love Jesus has for us.  The tree is like a big birthday cake for Jesus and the lights are the candles.  The lights remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world and that “God lights our darkness” (2 Samuel 22:29)
  • While wrapping gifts share “It is better to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) Point out that because it is Jesus’ birthday we give gifts.  Jesus said when we give to one another it is the same as giving to him. (And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Matthew 25:40) Share “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).   Make sure your children are involved in making or purchasing gifts to give so they are not just on the receiving end of the gifts.  Also point out that giving is not only things, but he can give love, friendship, help, and joy.
  • Make the manger scene central in your decorations. Be sure your children hear the Christmas story from the Bible often. It’s fine to tell them the pretend stories of Santa and elves, Rudolph and Frosty, but be sure to tell the true story of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, angels, Shepherds, etc.  Also help them understand the true story of Santa.  He loved Jesus so much that he wanted to give to others.  A good book about Santa is “Santa, Are You for Real? “ by Harold Myra.

Begin some family traditions that your children will cherish and carry on after they have families of their own.  Here are some of our family’s:

  • Make a December calendar with all the special events listed or pictured.  Mark off each day till Christmas.
  • Put the Christmas cards you receive in a basket and choose one each day to pray for the family who sent it.
  • Have a birthday party for Jesus complete with birthday cupcakes, candles, and singing Happy Birthday.  Also, we draw pictures of what we want to thank Jesus for and wrap it up each year.  Every year at the birthday party we open up the present for Jesus we wrapped up the year before and see what we put in.
  • Plan a night for all the family to sleep under the tree.  Go to sleep listening to Christmas carols after Dad has read the Christmas Story.
  • Choose a family who has had a hard year to show some special kindness to in some way.
  • Make Christmas cookies together and give to the neighbors.
  • Make Christmas ornaments to add to your tree or to give away.  (Recipe for clay dough: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/3 cup of water.  Mix salt and flour, add water a little at a time.  Mix with hands. After cutting out with Christmas cookie cutters, bake in 225 degree oven for 15 minutes on each side.)
  • Make decorating the tree a family affair.  Sing as you decorate.
  • Look at pictures from previous Christmases
  • Act out the Christmas story.  Involve the whole family including pets, dolls, stuffed animals
  • Memorize a different scripture each week related to Christmas:
    For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:11
    God loved us and sent His Son.  1 John 4:10
    It’s better to give than to receive.  Acts 20:35
    The shepherds praised God.  Luke 2:20

Here’s a simple song to sing: Christmas is Jesus’ Birthday

For the next 25 days, this blog will be relating the real meaning of Christmas with traditional seasonal objects so that you and your children can remember that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday.

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Keeping Thanks in Thanksgiving: The First Thanksgiving

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Always help your children understand the holiday you are celebrating.  Have fun telling the story of the first Thanksgiving and acting it out with Indian headbands and Pilgrim hats.

Click here for a coloring book you can download and print that gives a simple explanation of the first Thanksgiving.  Talk about each page as you color.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

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Keeping Thanks in Thanksgiving: A Thankful Walk

Take a walk around the house or outside and point out things you are thankful for.  Turn it into a prayer of thanks as you say “Thank you God for”  and name each thing.  You can also take pictures of these things and put them in a thank you box that you can decorate together.  Each night you can pull out a picture and thank God for it. You can include in your box pictures of family and friends to be thankful for.  Older children may want to draw pictures or make a thank you notebook.  These activities are for the whole family.  You never get too old to be thankful for the things and people around you.

Click on the link to hear a song you can use to sing your thank you’s as you walk. I apologize for the quality. . . it is from a 32 year old tape 😉 . . . but you can still get the tune and the idea.

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Being Thankful is a Choice


No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1Thes. 5:18 (NLT)

A form of the word “thanks” occurs about 150 times in Scripture making it very evident that God values thankful hearts

Being thankful is a choice.  If it were not a choice, God wouldn’t be commanding us to be thankful.  The pilgrims chose to be thankful after their first year in America even though they experienced sickness, deaths, and various hardships. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln chose to declare that “the last Thursday in November be a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens.”

When we choose to be thankful, our spirits are lifted.  We can not be discouraged and thankful at the same time.  We can not teach our children to be thankful when we are ungrateful.  As in everything, we lead by example.

“Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”- Charles Dickens

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