Wednesday, February 15, 2012

You Gotta Serve Somebody

"Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.  You don't have to have a college degree to serve.  You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace.  A soul generated by love."
 -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Recently I was reading a post by Kelly Mine on her blog The Accidental Homeschooler, it was titled Simple Discipline--I Said Simple, Not Easy.  You can read it here.  I really appreciated what she had to say.

Teaching our kids to obey us is a day in and day out exercise at our house.  I must say "Obey mama" 100 times a day.  I must also say "Are you showing love?", "Are you being kind?", "Please share", another 300 times a day.   Discipline is exhausting.  Nevertheless, I am called to serve, and as tired as I get at times I'm in this thing for several more years.  

Serve, is a word that we have been using a lot more in our house recently.  I have been asking Ever Joy if she could please help serve her brother and sister, and then model ways for her to do so.  We have also been memorizing Philippians 2:3-5 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesusand talking about what this verse means for our family.

 I can't sit here and say that I have seen overnight progress, but that isn't the point.  I'm still exhausted by the time I get them in bed, and I still start my day thanking the Lord that His mercy's are new.  My prayer for my children is that they know their Savior and learn to walk in His ways, my prayer for myself is that He will help me serve and love these kids in His strength. 

When you have time checkout Kelly's post, I'm sure you will be as encouraged as I was.

3 comments:

sara said...

I haven't checked out Kelly's post, but am encouraged by yours :) I love the natural re-start button every night. Putting them to bed, praying tomorrow would be another day to become more like Him. How awesome are new days, His mercies! Thanks for this, Kate.

Sarah Turner said...

Kate, I am Laura's cousin Sarah. I was checking out her blog and read her comments. I clicked on your blog. I don't normally comment on other's blogs I do not know personally, but I wanted to let you know that this post was exactly what I needed. I also needed the verse. I am writing it down and posting it up at my kitchen sink (where I seem to spend most of my day). No doubt, I see God's hand in this.

Unknown said...

Thank you for your comments. I've been so busy trying to serve these kids that I haven't been able to blog since this post...