A Week Of Service

This last week whilst the children have been on Virtual Camp, they have focussed on three areas of Service and because I was sort of involved in the camp (I ran a couple of lessons on social media) and of course because the children got me involved in their service projects during the week (because I'm their main mode of transport!) I've been focusing on Service too.

The three areas that the children were to focus on were Service for Family, Service for the Community and Service for the Ward (parish). Top Ender and Dan Jon were full of ideas, mainly because they are both doing some form of service every week, and the lockdown hasn't stopped that, and of course, because service is something we discuss a lot at home.

That quote above is one of my favourite quotes, it reminds me that when I'm serving others, lifting them, that it's me who is being lifted really.

It's something I tell the children all the time, that when they are serving others it's actually them who benefits. That when they are tired or grouchy or annoyed with the world that serving others allows them to stop feeling tired, to stop being grouchy or annoyed and to start feeling full of love and gratitude and to forget their own troubles and worries.

This last week both children completed extra chores, looked around and did other things that they knew needed sorting but for some reason hadn't yet been done (removing the empty bottles from the bathroom was something I kept meaning to remember to do!) and even sorting out our evening meals together. They even inspired me to do some of the things that I kept putting off, such as sorting out the piles of junk I seem to collect, organising the understairs cupboard and even photographing all the clothes in my wardrobe so I could do a mix and match type thing with my clothes more easily in the future!

We carried out some service for some of our neighbours, we carried out service for some of our friends. We made baby hats for our local hospital, we tried to raise spirits with those we talked with online and in person.

I noticed the changes in us all, from focusing on service, quickly. We spoke a little kinder to each other, we were a little more patient, we were what we should be at all times. I realised that by putting each other first, by performing acts of service for one another, that we remembered to treat one another like our Heavenly Father treats us and wants us to treat one another.

I'm going to make sure that as a family we put more of a focus on serving together, on serving one another, as I rather like how this last week of service has gone.