Rainbows

Tonight we had a Mother's Day event with the children at our church. It coincided with the presentation of awards to those in our Missionettes and Rainbows programs. My older son is in Rainbows. It is the preschool aged class. He received awards for all his work this year and shared some of what he has learned. His class sang their Rainbows song. It says "I'm a Rainbow. A promise of God's care. I love to share His happiness with my friends everywhere." It's exciting that they are learning from such an early age that God loves them and He wants them to share that love with others. All the kids were very excited to receive their awards.

I think the night was special for the mothers as well. They had worked to create a special video for the kids, sharing why they love them so much. I enjoyed watching the kids faces as they heard their mothers speak words of life about them. I think those words will impact the kids in a great way. It's easy to forget how important praise is to our kids. Not only is it important to praise our kids, but it is important to praise them in front of others. One little boy just smiled and giggled as he listened to his mom say why he was so special to her. The girls' faces were beaming as they heard pride in their mom's voices. As much as the kids enjoyed the praise, though, I think it was almost as good for the mothers to hear themselves praising their children. In the hustle and bustle of life we tend to take our children for granted. It's nice to be able to be reminded of how important they are to us and to put into words how special God made them. I'm glad we had the opportunity to publicly praise them and to hear other's public praise. I think that reminder is the best Mother's Day gift for me!