February often portrays love as colorful hearts and picture-perfect moments, but the kind of love that truly shapes children is usually much quieter, and is often much harder. Loving children well is not a passive act; it’s a daily, intentional commitment.
Love is a significant sacrifice.
As the saying goes, “Parenting is only hard for the good parents.” There’s truth in that. Loving a child well means shepherding their heart, paying attention to the ordinary moments, and guiding them with compassion. It looks like bedtime at the same time each night, reminders to brush teeth and eat vegetables (again), teaching children to wait their turn, to listen, and to consider how others feel. These moments may feel monotonous and incredibly repetitive, but they create predictability and safety and build character in our children.
Love is consistency.
Love means setting boundaries when it would be easier to overlook behavior. It’s correcting with patience and intention, not to punish, but to guide and protect. In those moments, love chooses growth over convenience.
Love is an immense blessing.
Every parent has hard days, yet few would trade this calling for anything. The difficult moments and constantly-sticky kitchen counters won’t linger in our memories forever. What endures is a child’s laughter, the growth we witness as they step into new seasons, and the gift of being loved back fiercely. These are the moments that help us stay the course.
Love often looks like choosing the harder path.
It’s opening your heart to children with complicated stories and uncertain futures. It’s staying present when emotions run high, progress feels slow, and the outcome isn’t guaranteed. It’s trusting that showing up again and again matters, even when it’s exhausting.
Love isn't flashy.
It doesn’t always feel rewarding in the moment. But over time, those steady, unseen acts of brave parenting are planting seeds that will bear fruit. This is valiant work. Necessary work. Work that shapes lives and communities. Little by little, love raises children into mature, responsible, and compassionate adults who will carry those virtues into their future homes, workplaces, and relationships.
Take heart, parents. The love you give so freely is building bridges you may never see, embedding confidence and courage into hearts that will go on to do remarkable things.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
