I’ve felt VERY strongly this last little while, that we need to be doing more service TOGETHER as a family.
It’s been weighing on my mind actually, so I researched some different places in our community, where we could spend our time each week, doing good for others.
I decided to kick off my grandiose idea with a SERVICE themed Family Home Evening last week and my kids were super on board and super excited about our plans.
{If you’ve been following along, you know that my FHE ideas are two things: Easy and Short.}
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To start, I laid out a fork, a knife and a spoon for the kids to see. I told them we were going to be talking about SILVERWARE for a minute. Here’s what I said:
Did you ever compare yourselves to silverware?
All silverware is made to serve, but the different pieces serve in different ways. Let me show you how….
{Hold up fork} – Forks stab! “This is mine,” they say. Bits of meat, carrots, pickles. “This, this and this are mine,” says the fork. “Everything for me, me, me.” And soon ever last morsel on the plate has been pinned by the spear of the selfish fork.
{Hold up knife} – “Too big” says the knife. Slice. Cut. Chop. Dice. Everything must change it’s shape to satisfy the whim of the knife. Nothing is right as it is. Everything needs paring down, carving or separating.
{Hold up spoon} – Cereal, soup, peas – all the impossiblg foods can be handled comfortably from the smooth bowl of the spoon. Spoons say, “Here let me HELP you. We can manage together”.
We all need to BE THE SPOON in life!!! What are some ways that we can help others?
My mom always raised me with the the quote:
“Service never comes at a convenient time.”
What do you think this means?
{We talked about it and my husband and I gave personal experiences of times we were asked to serve, when we really didn’t want to, or didn’t have the time…but our lives were blessed beyond measure because we chose to do so}.
Then I introduced them to our family the ‘SERVICE SPOON’.
Our ‘SERVICE SPOON’ = a regular ‘ole big spoon from our kitchen drawer with a ribbon tied around it to spot easily.
I gave it first to my middle son.
I challenged him in the upcoming week, to do an act of service for someone in our family. It could be…doing their chore, making their bed, picking up their clothes…ANYTHING that would help them out. Then…he had to leave the ‘spoon’ in that location where the service took place. If he wanted, he could leave a note with it so the person in fact, knew it was for them. THEN….the person who the act of service was intended for….had to reciprocate and do an act of service for ANOTHER family member. And it just snowballed from there.
We did it all week long and my kids LOVED it!
It was so fun seeing their faces light up when they discovered that the spoon had been left for them! And it was SO fun watching them choose different acts of service for each other.
Lastly – – we watched THIS short video clip and it ended the evening perfectly.
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I love this so much! You are brilliant! And such a good mom. Thanks for sharing all your good ideas.