Praise God! Through little doing of my own, my children have learned to have a servant’s heart. They are pretty good helpers – especially my son – but it has not always been that way. When they were little (ages 2, 4, and 6), my husband and I did everything for them. They were little then and we still had diapers to change – it was what we thought we should do. BUT, also when they were very little, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and everything we thought we knew very rapidly changed.
We had to go from a parents-as-servants home to a home of servants – and it was a good change. Now that I no longer have RA – because Our God is the Great Healer – I can reflect back on my 7 years of disability and debilitation and see that God was at work in my heart and the heart of my family the ENTIRE time.
Now my children are 10, 12, and 14 and despite to occasional teenage eye-rolling from my oldest, they are good helpers. If I ask, they do it – and they do it well. My son is such a sweetie that it is common for him to jump up and try to do a job I ask one of the girls to do – but I have to stop him, so that the girls can continue to be good helpers, too. Like I said… I cannot take the credit for this – the credit is all God’s. With my inability to do a lot of things, we spread out the responsibilities. The older the children got, the more they were capable of handling. They all know how to do dishes (dishwasher and the old-fashioned way) and laundry and vacuum, dust, clean toilets… the list could go on. My youngest even showed an interest in ironing – so I taught her. Long story short – God used my inability to do everything for His Glory because now my children are well on their way to being well-prepared to care for themselves in life. Won’t their future spouses be so happy!
So, the homework for this lesson is to have a family meeting and introduce the cleaning caddies – I have a feeling that they will be so excited to have all the cleaning supplies they need in one place so they will not have to run up and down the stairs to gather each item they need. I can’t wait to see how they respond. My youngest, I am sure, will be the most excited. She loves to clean – more than I have ever seen in any child. Her specialty? Toilets – she loves that job! Which is good – cause I DON’T! Lol. I can’t wait to see what happens!
Being a Good Helper by Heather BixlerLastly, today’s lesson reminds me of a Bible study written by one of my friends, Heather. She has an e-book entitled “Being a Good Helper” – click here for more information. If your family could use some work in the servant’s heart and being a good helper area, this Bible study is excellent!