I was reminded by a friend's post on Facebook yesterday about what is important while we are raising our kids. It isn't that I have been neglecting my children. It is just one of those little things that really matters.
You can have the most polite, most educate, most groomed, child on the block and they still be missing the mark. That is what I was reminded of. In fact, your child can know the Bible backwards and forwards and still be missing the mark.
What the friend of mine pointed out was very simple, her children were very eager to help a person in need. It wasn't that she forced them to do it, it was simply that she mentioned the person needed help and both of them were happy to help with her. I think that is the key. She led by example.
I know I have wrestled with things many times because sometimes it is just easier for me to just do it instead of showing one of the kids how to do it or waiting for them as they help. Is that teaching them a positive thing though?
As a Christian, we are to show God's love to others and we are to teach our children that love. How do our children learn about that love unless we show them? Its not just the love within a family, its also reaching out to others. Like when the neighbor can't get his car to start and you help get it jumped off. You do it to help, not to get a reward.
It used to be the norm that people helped others and were generous with them, there was that brotherly love in abundance. Perhaps it is a bit naive, due to the area I live in, but it has slowly died away. What would happen if we brought it back? What would happen if the Christians lived as Christ and showed God's love continuously?