Daily Devotional for January 15, 2023
To Grandma with Love
Grandma will like this, Kade thought as he worked on a picture. She’ll probably take it home and put it up somewhere. He finished drawing a house, then worked on trees and clouds. Kade enjoyed art, and his teacher had told him he had a talent for it. “There!” he said, looking over the finished picture.
Nearby, Kade’s five-year-old sister Chloe worked on a picture of her own. “Mine’s done too,” she said, holding it up.
Kade scoffed at it. “What’s Grandma going to do with that? Just looks like scribbling to me!” Chloe scowled at him and left the room.
When Grandma arrived, Kade gave her his drawing. “My, this is good work, Kade!” Grandma exclaimed. Then she turned to Chloe, who was shyly holding out her picture. Grandma took it and exclaimed over it too. “These are both going on my refrigerator,” she said. Kade scowled.
When Kade and Grandma were alone a little later, she asked him about it. “Don’t you want me to put your picture up?” she asked.
“Sure, but you made it sound like Chloe’s was as good as mine,” Kade replied. “It’s not half as good! Hers is just scribbling. Why would you like it?”
“I could see the love that went into it,” Grandma explained. “I saw that Chloe had worked just as hard to please me as you had. Maybe it wasn’t done with a practiced hand as yours was, but the love was there. She did what she could.”
Kade nodded slowly. “I guess that means you’d love me just as much if I weren’t good at drawing.”
“You’re absolutely right about that!” said Grandma. “I love you because you’re my grandson, not because of what you can do. And you know what? That’s the way God loves us too. We don’t need to do anything for Him to love us. He already loves us so much He sent Jesus to save us so we could be His children! And He’s always delighted by our gifts. We may see some actions or deeds as being small or unimportant, but they’re important to God because He notices the love that’s put into them. Giving a helping hand, a friendly smile, or an encouraging word is just as important to God as anything else we could do to serve Him.”
-Carolyn E. Yost
How about you?
Does what you do for God seem less important than what others do for Him? It’s not. On the other hand, perhaps you think what you do for Him is more important than what others do. That’s not true either. God sees the love that goes into each deed, no matter how big or small it seems to you. Everything we do in response to the love He has shown us is precious in His sight.
Thank you for reading this Keys for Kids devotional! Did you enjoy the story? Has Keys for Kids been an encouragement to you and your family? If so, would you please consider supporting Keys For Kids Ministries in our effort to continue to provide these daily devotionals to children around the world?