Raising Children With Servant’s Hearts
Visionary daughters. Daughters with a purpose. Call it what you will…it’s a beautiful–AND RARE–thing.
I mention them on the blog from time to time, but we have some friends who live with incredible purpose. And they’re raising their children to do the same.
When we came home last night, my kitchen cabinet was covered with food. And not just any food…a huge roaster oven full of savory chicken, a massive pan of homemade, oven baked mac-n-cheese, homemade muffins, a large breakfast casserole, a salad, and a couple of hand-picked veggies from the garden.
These gifts were bought and made by 19-year-old Olivia, and 15-year-old Emma (and they took another meal to another expecting couple the same day.)
They were not prompted or asked, they just chose to bless two families who they knew would greatly appreciate a meal (and boy did we!) By the way, this wasn’t a random act…they’re constantly busy serving families in some way.
“What do you do all day?” A question commonly asked of girls who aren’t living the typical school/college/job life.
I thought back to what I was doing at that age…scary. It was all about ME, and if I wasn’t staying busy with school stuff, I was either with boys, or sprawled out on the couch watching TV. (We didn’t have video games…oh, OK we did, but–I’m about to date myself–it was like Atari or something.)
I was not looking around to see how I might serve, or offer relief or encouragement–sadly, not even to my own mother and family.
“What do you do all day?” I can’t speak for others, but these girls are being the hands and feet of Christ, in a real way, and I’m so thankful for their lives of purpose. It inspires me to hold up the vision of service to my children.
“….the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
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Uncategorized | Word Warrior | 
May 23, 2009 8:17 pm
Beautiful! What a blessing, and what a great example to our daughters. Thank you for sharing that.
I have never met them (only online) but everything I know about their family amazes me. Very rare indeed.
God bless them for blessing you!
What a wonderful and God honoring example to others.
Word Warrior,
Like you I was definitely a ME teenager wrapped up in boys and “having fun”. I regret that I didn’t even know what it was to have a servant heart until much farther down the road. I hope my children are learning from us what that means and the joy it brings to the people we are serving.
I don’t think dinner would have happened around here tonight if it weren’t for Olivia and Emma’s blessing us as well!! I’m so blown away.
Talk about reaping where you have not sown- I was totally self absorbed as a young adult as well. =P
How sweet! I hope my girls will be the same kind of blessings to others…what is their secret!?!! (The parents I mean!)
I love reading about the Brodock girls! They have been such an encouragement to my daughter, Anna even if it is only via the internet. You are blessed woman to have friends like this precious family.
That is awesome. But HOW?!?! How does one raise children with servants hearts? I would love for my three daughters to serve like this when they get older (even NOW as they are 9, 7, 6yrs). I need the HOW.
Paula,
Good question! You know, a friend of mine made some great points about living the Christian life in general, which is encapulated I think, in being a servant.
She said, we don’t naturally “drift” toward godliness, toward putting others first, or doing the right things. We drift toward SELF, unless we are constatnly rowing toward living a life characterized by Christ.
So the answer must be, by constant reading God’s Word, pointing out the purpose of living a Christian life–that is, to SERVE, and then actively cultivating the spirit of service into our children. Do they see us with a spirit of service? Are we holding up other examples of service? Are we involved in practical areas of service?
Just like everything else, daily “bending” our thoughts toward those traits we desire to see cultivated into our family’s life.
*encapsulated*