Recently, on a Saturday, our church held a Community Missions Day - where groups of people signed up to do all sorts of things for our community - some worked on a large food drive for the Food Bank, some went to a homeless shelter in our downtown area and helped out there, some signed on to do some work for single moms with low income. Well, at the service following that day, many of the volunteers stood up at the front of the sanctuary to describe how their day went. Many of the stories were quite emotional - so many desperate people were helped that day. However the last 2 speakers were two young men - probably around 14 years old. They had spent the day painting the interior of a home for a very low income family who were not able to do it themselves as part of their community 'contribution'. Their testimony was moving to me, because their compassion for others was so apparent. They spent their entire precious Saturday helping others who needed the help and they had a BLAST doing it!! And this is not the first time I witness these two friends serving others - they are quite active in our congregation in volunteering their time and efforts for various ministries.
How proud their parents must be of them!! What an amazing job they did of instilling such a strong sense of responsibility and a desire to serve others.
Raising Luke to have a willingness to serve, to put others first ahead of himself is something that is so very important to me. I worry about whether I can be a loving example for Luke so that he can witness the traits of kindness, love, character, and willingness to serve.
And then it dawned on me that he already has two people in his life who are AMAZING role models for these values. His Nanna and Poppa are two of the most generous people I know. They shame me sometimes with how they are always thinking of others. They do not have very much in the way of monetary resources (in otherwords - they're not rich!! LOL!!), as they live on a limited budget. They are not highly educated people - they lead very simple lives. However in so many little tiny ways, they are forever putting the needs and desires of others before their own.
When our church announced a food drive, they came in the following week with a bag full of canned goods. Me? I had totally forgotten about it and came empty handed that week.
There are members of our congregation who are expecting their very first child in just a short while and even though my parents have never formally met them, they've passed along a wee little gift to give at the baby shower.
They have taught me so much about how even the littlest of gestures add up to so much more!
With a bit of luck, a LOT of prayers and role models like these for Luke to look up to, I pray that my Luke will turn out to be a bit like those two young men - with a desire to serve others as Christ served us!
.JPG)
