If I asked your kids, what would they say is at the
heart of what it means to be part of your family? In other words, how would
your kids finish this sentence: “Our family is….”
I grew up with a very strong sense of what it meant
to be a Thompson. We wore our family name with pride, after all, the motto on
our family crest was “Nosce teipsum” or
translated, “know thyself.” We would
never do anything to tarnish the family name, because early on it was instilled
in me what being a Thompson meant. Both by their example and by their words, my
parents instilled in me that being a part of the Thompson family meant you were
hardworking and looked for ways to humbly serve others. Our family is
hard-working servants.
Joy and I hope to instill the same values in our
children, one day… a few years down the road. We pray that our family will be
leaders and learners, people of gentle strength, content risk-takes, and folks
who love and serve God and others. Do we have all the answers? No, and if you are
honest with yourself, you don’t have all the answers even now, as a parent or
when you did have children.
A question you may find yourself asking is, “How can
we be parents who love and serve God and others, and who raise kids who do
likewise?” How can we plant a vision for kingdom service so deeply in our kids
that they can’t help but offer love and hope to those in need? Words and
Actions.
I read about a family that shares this longing that
their kids have a heart for service. They have made a commitment, as a family,
to help folks who are homeless not by giving them money but by buying them a
bag of groceries instead. As their three daughters were growing up, the parents
explained, “Our family does not give money when we are approached on the
street. We buy food instead.” When approached by someone who was homeless, the
parents would run into a nearby supermarket and buy a bag of groceries for the
person in need, often with their daughters in tow.
Recently, their seventeen-year-old daughter was
heading alone into a grocery store when she was approached by a homeless man
who asked her for money. Even though Kristen was alone, she repeated the family
mantra to him: “Our family does not give money. We buy food instead.” She
walked into the grocery store and spent $17 of her own money to buy groceries.
When she returned home, she never asked her parents to reimburse her.
Want your kids to grow up and be servants, to love
the Lord, and be a productive part of society? Show them. Show your children
how to be servants. Show your children that you love the Lord. It’s all about
words and actions, and it all starts with you, the parents, in your own home. After
all, when your kids grow up, they will be a reflection of you. If you are
inconsistent in your spiritual walk, it’s safe to assume your children will be,
as well. If you don’t value God, church, and family as a priority in your life,
study shows that neither will your children. Live your life in the same way you
want your children to live theirs, and you will see a child who loves God and
serves others. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” –Proverbs 22:6
