Have you ever asked your mom or dad to buy you something that you really, really wanted?
   Did they get it for you?
   How do you feel about it now that it's yours?

   Laura really, really wanted a doll house for Christmas.
   "Mommy, will you please get me a doll house, please?" Laura begged.
   "We'll see," Mom replied.

   Laura dreamed about the doll house she hoped would someday be hers. She looked for pictures of doll houses in catalogs. She watched for them in stores.
   When she found the doll house she liked, she pleaded, "That's the doll house I want. Will you get it for me Mommy, pleeeaase?"
   "Christmas will be here soon," Mom said with a twinkle in her eye. Laura felt almost sure that her mom would get her a doll house for Christmas.
   Sure enough, on Christmas morning Laura discovered a brightly wrapped package with a big bow on top under the Christmas tree with her name on it!
   "What's inside, Mommy?" she asked excitedly as she shook the box.
   "Open it and see," Mom smiled.
   Laura tore off the pretty paper, opened the box, and exclaimed, "A doll house! Just what I wanted. I love it! I love it! I love it! Oh! Thank you, Mommy." The big, two-story doll house came with a miniature family of six, furniture, and linens.
   All afternoon, Laura played with her doll house. The next day, she played with her doll house. And the next.
   Then one day, about a week after Christmas, Laura came to Mother and said rather sadly, "You know, I'm not so excited about my doll house anymore."
   "Really?"
   Laura continued, "I wanted a doll house so bad, but you know it's not really as great as I thought it would be."
   Mother was quiet before she spoke. "I understand how you feel. Sometimes things seem really wonderful when you don't have them. But once they're yours, they aren't all that exciting anymore."
   Can you relate to Laura's experience?
   What happened? Laura said she loved her doll house. Did she? Yes. Does she still love her doll house? No.
   Why not? Because the kind of love she had for the doll house was only human love, and it can change.
   Human love is like that.
   Human love appears in all kinds of situations.
   Have you ever had a friend who played with you every day, then one day decided that she no longer likes you or wants to be your friend? Human love is changeable.
   But God's love is different. In fact, it's the only kind of love in the universe that never changes. It doesn't matter whether people are mean or nice, sad or glad. He loves them just the same.
   The Bible says that God loves you. That means He will always love you because His love never changes.

   The following texts describe God's love in more detail. Look them up in your Bible and fill in the blanks.*

   "Love suffers ________ and is _______ ; love does not _______ ; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no _______ ; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all __________ , hopes all things, ___________ all things. _________ never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

   "When Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He __________ them to the _______ ." John 13:1.

   "Who shall separate us from the ________ of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or ________ , or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor ______ , nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things ___________ nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to ____________ us from the _________ of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35, 38, 39.

   God has a very special present for you--His love! He desires to place His love in your heart to share with others. Wouldn't you like to have His kind of love?

   "A new commandment I give to you, that you ________ one another; as I have loved you, that you also _________ one another. By this will all know that you are My disciples, if you have _______ for one ___________ ." John 13:34, 35.

My Prayer
   "Loving Father, thank You for Your unchanging love for me. I'd like to receive the gift of love for others that You've promised to me. Please teach me to love others the way You do. In Jesus' name, Amen."

[Some children can appreciate that the words for human love and God's love are different in the language of the Apostles. God's love is agape.]

_____________ * These texts are from the New King James Version, but you may use the King James or other versions to fill in the blanks.

Published in the 1888 Message Newsletter, September-October 1998.

Published in the 1888 Message Newsletter, 1999.