Love, Obedience and our Heart's Desire

I was chatting with another mom today about Charlotte Mason's teachings. This other mom made a comment about the habit of obedience. While I agree that the habit of obedience is a wonderful immediate blessing, at the same time, obeying out of love rather than habit seems so much more significant to me. I thought of a friend who has the most polite children, they never forget to say "Yes, ma'am", but it has become such a habit for them, I wonder if it still retains any meaning of respect. They sound so rote at times. Some would say that it's awesome that they're always outwardly respectful and that is great. But I am much more concerned about the heart of my children, to be honest.

This brought to mind being taught that we show God we love Him by obeying Him. I was reminded of a verse in 2 John (if you know me very long, you will learn that John is my favorite disciple!): And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. When we can get our children, and ourselves for that matter, to toss aside the worldly conditional definition of love and embrace true Biblical love, found through obedience to our Father, then they and we will find our heart's desire. I pray that over anyone who reads this blog...that you will discover that love in Christ, for Him and for one another!