Loving Jesus is important in our home.  It is not abnormal to hear in our home, “I love Jesus the most!”  I will often tell the kids, “I love you alot, but I love mommy the most.  She’s my favorite, favorite, favorite and you’re just my favorite favorite.”  I understand that it sounds somewhat cheesy, but I think they need to realize that my relationship with their mother is very important.  They will someday leave, but we will never leave each other.

Often when I make the point of telling them about my absolute undying love for Linda, they are quick to tell me that I should love Jesus the most.  I quickly surrender to their spiritual piety and consent that I do love Jesus the most, but besides Him, I love their mommy the most.  They seem content with this explanation . . . for now.

This love for Jesus is so serious for us all, that it has been used in a couple of unexpected ways . . .

1. Molly and Jasmine (a neighbor and fellow church member) often play together at home, sometimes our home and sometimes Jasmine’s.  On one particular occasion I recall working in the yard and over hearing a bit of an argument between the two of them.  Molly was becoming possessive of Jasmine’s time and Jasmine was showing a little too much attention to Spencer.  The battle of words came to a close when Molly said, “Jasmine you just don’t love Jesus.”  Well she had gone to far.  Jasmine, hurt by the accusation, got up and left.  Who would have thought such words would be used in such a manner.
2. On the other hand . . . There are a few TV shows (quite a few actually) that we don’t let the kids watch.  One of them is Spongebob Square pants.  I recall watching the show for a short time and it seemed a bit crass for me.  Spencer once asked why he couldn’t watch the show and Linda told him it was because Spongebob doesn’t love Jesus.  I guess this is an oversimplification to some degree.  Spongebob is a cartoon and is not real, but this ended up being the simplest way to explain it to him at that point.  A few days later, we were at one of Molly’s class outings and all the boys went with us.  As we were sitting in the midst of the crowd, Spencer, not using his inside voice, asked the simple question, “Why doesn’t Spongebob love Jesus?”  . . . “Well, Spongbob is a sponge and he is saturated with himself and doesn’t want to be saturated with Jesus . . . Plus, he’s a cartoon, he’s not real . . . Quit asking questions!” 

I’m glad my children think it is important to love Jesus.  I find it humorous that they just expect everyone to love Him.  It doesn’t make sense to them why someone wouldn’t.  Hopefully, their twin brothers pick up on the sentiment.  Right now they just know that grandma loves them.