3 Things to Encourage a Loving Heart and FREE Coloring Valentines

{Update for 2018: Ok, so it's Ash Wednesday and Valentine's day... eek! That doesn't mean you have to stop showing love to each other just not eat candy...or much of anything 😜 In fact, I would suggest this is a time to show more real love, the kind Jesus wants all of us to always give each other. So in this post is a perfect Sacred Heart of Jesus Valentine for this Ash Wednesday. }

It is that time of year and the mush and gush of Valentine's Day is nearly upon us. I'd like to take a little different approach to it by pondering what Jesus says about LOVE in the verses below. 

34 I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. 35 This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:34-35 

I think this verse is simply beautiful and exactly what I want my little ones to be focused on every day and not just on a day like Valentine's Day. What better day to hit this message home than on Valentine's Day. Love begins at home says St. Teresa of Calcutta and Jesus wants us to be that shinning example of love for our children. So what kind of things do you do to encourage this selfless love in your children's hearts?

We live in an age and world that focuses so much on me, myself, and I. It can be hard to shape a selfless heart and truly love others as Jesus did. So I am offering three simple things you could do with your kids to encourage a loving heart in them.

1.A great little thing you could do is simply ask your kids how they think Jesus would want them to love others. You can read the 8 beatitudes to them for a little extra encouragement and then they can hear straight from the horse's mouth on the subject! And you can find them in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:3-10)

2.Make a little game out of it by writing down these suggestions and then handing them out as little tasks or Mercy Missions to perform. I don't know what it is about the word mission or spies and secret agent talk, but my kids love it and I think using language that speaks to them helps to make life fun and AWESOME!

3. Read stories about saints that showed great love and compassion for others to your children. Kids love to be read to and there are some amazing saints that really loved as Jesus did. Some that I think would be great are: St. Teresa of Calcutta. St. JPII, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Elizabeth, Bl Pier Giorgio, St. Gianna Molla, and so many more!

And I did say FREE printable up there in the title, so here is a cute Sacred Heart Valentine printable for your little ones to color, cut out, and give away! Tip: if you save the image first, it will be easy to print out.

Last but I am sure not least in your mind is this awesome Valentine Party Pack Printable. I am going to give 5 sets away. They are a great little PDF that includes 6 pages. The giveaway is open to EVERYONE, starts today 1/26/2017 and will end on 2/8/2017. 

Although the raffle copter giveaway has ended, not many people entered so if you leave a comment about how you encourage your little ones to love others, I will select a an additional winner on Sunday the 12th! 

Have you seen the updated  Lent Activity Pack

It's now available and includes 23 pages of coloring and activities plus a day tracker to count the days to Easter.