Hi friend, this post is part of my series: parenting a hurting child. I pray that you will be blessed. Check out the other posts in the series and be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss any updates.
It was a rather ordinary day. Light rain beat down on the windshield as we drove home from our weekly Bible study. Our car pulled up to the stop sign and she stole our hearts. A precious lady standing there in the rain. Her bleeding sign echoed her bleeding heart. The sign pleaded for food for her gran-babies and my daughter couldn’t look away. “Mom, we HAVE to give her some money.” I didn’t have to reach into my wallet to know that I only had a $50 bill. It was literally the only money we had, but our rent was paid and there was food in the pantry. So we gave.
My daughter’s generosity moved me. The lady nearly jumped into our car she was so excited… and God blessed us. No, He didn’t rain down $100′s to replace what we had given, but He placed in our hearts a joy that can’t be achieved any other way. That day as I drove home I realized the truth that we had missed. God calls us to give ALL that we have. Not when we think things are good or when we think we have the energy or when the college fund is padded. We are called to give freely, now.
I think it’s fairly easy and maybe even acceptable to claim that we don’t have anything to give. And maybe we don’t usually have much money, but we still have a LOT to give. You see, it’s in the giving that I found healing. It was in the long nights crying with broken souls, reminding them of God’s promises that I was able to find confidence in those promises. It was in the constant claiming them, and writing them, and declaring them before a broken group of people that HE healed me.
I’ll admit, it does seem a little backwards. Broken people should be accepting help and allowing others to pour into their lives…and I do that. But, as I receive from HIM, I must use it to serve another. (1 Peter 4:10)
How can we serve?
Serving is intentional. It typically takes more than a few bucks given to the woman in the rain. Often it requires planning. Especially with little kids. I know what you are thinking…how can we possibly serve others when I have 4 little kids running around. I promise you can. Serving others doesn’t just mean going on an overseas missions trip or serving dinner in a soup kitchen. Not everyone is called to fix up a widow’s home with your church group or pack boxes to feed starving children.
Serving is also in the everyday. It’s holding open a door for that lady with a stroller. It’s making dinner for your friend who just had a baby. It’s spending time with a lonely friend even when your schedule is packed. It’s the giving of whatever you have in the moment to benefit someone else.
Compelling them to serve
I had this idea to create a service jar for our family. The concept is simple: we fill the jar by doing acts of service for others. Once the jar is filled, we celebrate by doing something for ourselves. (Ya know, like going out for frozen yogurt, or having a movie night with popcorn) To fill the jar, anyone in the family can share something that they did for another and then place a marble inside. We have a point system. 1 marble for service to your family members. 2 marbles for service to anyone else. I do it that way simply because serving others requires more intentionality.
So how do we fill our service jar?
There are ideas on acts of service or random acts of kindness all over the internet. Check out my Serving Others pinboard for some of those. One of our favorite things to do is make bags to give to the homeless. My friend from Meet Penny shared a beautiful post about when her family made Homeless Blessing Bags. She even included a great list of ideas for things to put in the bags.
Another helpful post is 50 random acts of Kindness by Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. I love her ideas! Very practical for families with young children.
Friend, I once saw a story about a momma tiger who gave birth to dead cubs. She was so sad that she couldn’t eat or move. As the days progressed, her condition became alarming and zoo officials made a bold move. They wrapped a few baby pigs in tiger skin and laid them on the momma for comfort. Within moments, the broken momma had purpose and she rose to the occasion. She began eating and moving again saving her own life by taking care of those baby pigs. The picture is beautiful: serving others in our brokenness brings healing.
May we all be moved to compassion for others, serving them through the graciousness of our children!
Your turn~ in what simple ways has your family served another? Let’s share our ideas with one another.
Kim Sorgius
Kim is just a girl, crazy in love with Jesus. She's a single mother of 4, a passionate homeschooler and life-long student. After teaching 8 years in public school, she traded her M.A. in Early Childhood for sippy cups and homeschool co-ops. Kim is the owner and editor of The Homeschool Village and Not Consumed where she encourages others to rest victoriously in the hands of God, rather than allowing life's difficult circumstances to consume.
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Your post today is beautiful, Kim. I will making the jar TODAY. I’m also planning a Random Acts of Kindness outing for our homeschool middle schoolers and can get lots of ideas from you, so thank you!
Simply beautiful and so inspiring. My son is only 16 months but I know that this is something I want our family to do. I also plan on sharing this with our church life group so we can keep serving others at the forefront of what we do. Thank you so much for sharing this. I look forward to reading more.
This is a wonderful idea. I have been wanting to give away our roses to people. This may help us to do that.
Love this!
I love these ideas and how you teach your children the importance of giving and loving others.
My girls (9 and 11) and I have been making pillowcases for different ages of children. This creates a special item for children to put on pillows at shelters or as special gifts for a present. Pillowcases can be used to also put things in like personal items and taken with them. We are working on a lot of projects like this. Our next thing to do is cooking. We are going to make lots of specials treats for the Gifts for Kids shop in our area and for the mission in our area for Christmas.
We are focusing on one mission project per month, except for the holidays, we actually have 5 for Oct., Nov. and Dec. We are feeling blessed.
Love how you are teaching your children to serve!
I’m visiting from Living Well Wednesday. My blog is designed to inspire families to connect at mealtimes. I hope you’ll visit it!
Found you through the Better Mom link up…love the jar idea as well as the whole post. Thanks. The image of the Tiger is both heart-wrenching and inspiring…oh we are meant to nurture one another…Happy Monday!
We live abroad and pass beggars everyday. One of the ways my kids serve is by taking our gift to them, themselves. Thanks for the reminder that allowing our kids to be a part of our service, and that service means giving our all! More than that though, thanks for the practical ideas!
This is such a good post…good focus. We so often overlook important character traits like generosity with our time and service to others. Thanks for sharing this and living it.
So, so, so SWEET! I love how you’ve set up your serving jar! What an awesome idea. Serving others while we’re hurting is such a blessing. We can see the pain and suffering in others and actually be thankful for the suffering in our own lives!
Cute idea. I love the marble jar. So pinning. Also, I’d love to have you link this us to Titus 2 Tuesday this week on Cornerstone Confessions.. I hope to see you there.
Kathy
I love this! This week we made hearts, and each time a member of the family serves another, they can leave one of their hearts behind. My six-year-old son made us breakfast on Monday (well, he set the table and poured the cereal, but I think that counts!).
I LOVE this idea!! This is Fabulous! I’m definitely going to implement it in my family!!!!
I loved this post! I’ve been looking for different ways that I can use for us to serve others as a family. I’ll be following your pins for even more ideas!
God bless you!
Beautiful! I am so glad I found this post! I would love for you to add this post, and any others, to my weekly Mom’s Library Link-Up.
http://heymommychocolatemilk.blogspot.com/2012/11/co-hosting-moms-library-4-for-me.html
Thanks and Be Blessed,
Julie
I don’t want to detract from the spirit of tour post – afterall, I read it because I was interested in ways to foster a spirit of service in my kids. And I love your service jar idea!
The story about the tiger & the pigs is a phony. There is a zoo in Japan has the referenced pigs dressed as tigers in the same enclosure as an adult tiger. There wasn’t much reason for it, other than it is unexpected. There’s an article on snopes.
I so appreciate your blog. I am a working mom with a stay-at-home, homeschooling dad for a husband. Your story impacts more than just those who have been through the struggles of divorce & loss. It.is a message for all parents, so thank you for your honesty, openness, & for sharing yourself!