teach me to serve ebook

One of my great resources is that of the internet - of course!

It has its downsides though....

There are so many ideas out there it is actually easy to get overwhelmed and not take action. One of the hardest things I find is actually age appropriate service ideas. I think this will get even harder when number two arrives!

Having a toddler and doing service together does create constraints. But then again, so does every age. My view is not to think of these as constraints but ways of narrowing down the many options.

One of the great resources I have found is the 'Teach me to serve' ebook. I highly recommend you purchase it. I love it because it is practical and no fuss. It outlines so many simple easy ideas on service.

http://teachmetoservebook.com/

It seems like such a small price to pay for such gold! No, they haven't paid me to say that!

When I purchased it I figured if it wasn't that good I hadn't actually wasted that much money. Now I find myself referring to it all the time, and recommending it!

While my family service days have been non eventful lately it has been great to see the impact doing it earlier has made.

For example, we went on a family walk the other day and we passed a plastic bag floating around in the wind. Yes I know it is rubbish but I really couldn't be bothered. But I have been praying recently that my daughter won't have this attitude, that she would respond different. And on this day she did. She kept pointing it out to me 'rubbish' 'bag'. Until I felt I really couldn't not go and pick it up. It really shows how the small things we do can impact little ones. And give motivation to keep on doing it.

Now to ponder my next service event

October's Serving Day

This month I really wanted to make sure we focused on our local area and also served in a way that was more part of our day to day life. This is because I am passionate about Little B learning to serve. I really REALLY want her to have a servant heart so that no matter what she does in life she thinks of others and how to serve them. What came apparent though, after having her, is that she follows by example. In EVERY way. Seriously - it is scary sometimes. This is such a powerful way of teaching.

So what did we do? We went around and picked up rubbish!

I LOVED this serving opportunity. I think because it was local, simple, part of our normal family life and provide an opportunity to teach.

Awesome new idea I know (haha) but it just goes to show how simple serving can be. This is definetly not in the too hard basket for most of us.

In our family, since day light savings, we have often been out for a walk in the evening after dinner. So one evening we took along a plastic bag and picked up rubbish together. As we went we talked with Little B about why we were doing it and how Jesus loves everyone. Pretty simple.

Since I am so excited I even got some pictures of our adventures...

 

Operation Christmas Child

I am just going to say it out front - this post is a bit of a cop out. While I totally support the idea of Operation Christmas Child, it is not  to me the idea of serving for our family. Yes it can be to others, don't get me wrong, but for me it just feels too easy. One of the reasons I started this blog was so that my daughter meets those she is serving.  This is a about local mission (though I am more passionate about overseas mission, discussion topic for later).

I post about this though because I do think it builds a servant heart. Not everything we do needs to be 'out there and in the community'. I think we also need to show our daughter what serving looks like in different contexts. Operation Christmas Child was perfect for that.

While I did not take a picture of our box we made (for some gorgeous 2-4 year old girl in the world) here is a picture of all the boxes we did from our church - pretty impressive!

What is actually extra special for my little girl is that her very own Auntie lived in an area for a year who received such boxes. So we can  tell her first hand what happens to the box and the people who recieve it. That, in a way, makes her closer to know those she serves.

So what did we put in our box? Well since our little girl is of a similar age we choose things that she enjoys to play with. I also chose one of her soft toys to include that she has never played with. In that way she was giving something up (but it was still new like the guidelines said!)

I think as Little B gets older this exercise we will be able to use more as a teaching tool than this year.

Blessing Jar

Done and dusted... Luckily my house if full of (usually useless) fun craft items which mean I can whip up something funky looking (well I think it is funky looking) in no time. For me, making it look fun is key. Just another way to inspire me to actually make it and want to have it in my house.

The final product...

I actually got pretty excited while making it as I realised I was starting a whole new tradition in our family. That in itself I think is really important. One that Little B while grow up thinking is normal and will hopefully carry on with her on family one day (oh scary thought!).

It is interesting how God works as well. The past few weeks have been hectic as I ponder life and my pity party I was having (slowly getting over that one). Every day I seemed to find another annoying coin lying around. I don't like having coins around the house as I am worried that Little B will find them and think they look tasty and try and eat it. Cue choking image. Not good. So everytime I saw one of these coins I thought to myself 'wouldn't it be good to have that blessing jar to put it in'. So finally we do. Seems like I am the first to be blessed by the jar and it wasn't even because of any money in it. Though I did start off the blessing jar as I found 10c while making it.

I am looking forward to seeing money go in and also praying over where the money can be used.

First attempt review - arghh not so good!

First try - not so successful. But I have learnt a lot going forward. Mostly particular to my own family situation though!

The plan:
1. Inserting $5 notes into the library books I have to return with a little note saying 'you have been blessed!' Will get Little B to draw something on the note
This went pretty well to start off with. I got out $20 from the ATM all in preparation to give it away. Downside. ATM only gives out $20 notes. Never mind, I thought I will exchange it with a retailer before we go. Well that was where the plan didn't go so well. I did not exchange it. So when it came time to give the library books back there was no blessing money :-( There was however a note, and a beautifully drawn picture by Little B who has just learnt how to use crayons so was VERY excited to partake.

At least we had some success in this. It was really easy to do and part of our normal day. The lesson is to keep cash in the house a little more. I am thinking about making a 'blessing jar' for us to put our change in so we always have a few dollars on hand for when the time arises. I even have the perfect jar on hand!

2 Having cash on hand to pay for someone's meal at the home show
Brilliant and simple idea this one. There were really long queues at the home show for food so it would have been a good opportunity to bless someone as I am sure they would have been frustrated to have waited so long. Except I had a screaming Little B unwilling to partake in any queuing, walking, standing, waiting anything really that I wanted to do.

I guess some days I need to realise it is ok not to complete everything. I have to remember that it is the thought and having the right heart that counts. God gives us opportunities to serve and perhaps for me there were not opportunities at the home show and that is ok. If there was, sorry God for not seeking your will more.

3 Buy a hot drink for a vendor who is working
See point 2!!!!!

Where to next?

Next month I am looking at making some old school friendship bracelets with my youth group girls. There is a possibility there that where we decide to gift them to we could also do our monthly service.

Totally keen to start the blessings jar. I think that will help empower us and prevent any reluctance or pitiful excuses in the future! Off to find some fun printables to decorate and get hubby on board. I am always stealing his change so should be sweet!

Monthly serving

So many posts and blogs have I read about ways to serve. I am sick of reading! There are so many things to read - yes this is another one of them - but this blog is not for you. It is for me. For me to keep a record and to be held accountable to my decisions. I want to be one of those families that serves our amazing God all the time. And not just serve in our church. With our little girl growing up as a PK I want to work extra hard for her to know what life is like outside the church.

So lets start small.

One serving day a month as a family.

Sounds easy?
Well I already have a mountain of excuses  that come up inside me that this will not work. But one can only try.

September date will be (goes to check calander) this Saturday. Why not start as I mean to go on huh! We are off to the home show this weekend so there will be plenty of opportunities to serve others. Things I will try and be prepared for:

- Inserting $5 notes into the library books I have to return with a little note saying 'you have been blessed!' Will get Little B to draw something on the note
- Having cash on hand to pay for someone's meal at the home show
- Buy a hot drink for a vendor who is working

A lot of these ideas are really random acts of kindness but I think that is a good place to start that incorporates it into my plans.

Lets see how that goes - better go now and get started on these notes!