One of the most requested topics this year on my speaking circuit has been a lesson in which I list a hundred ideas for training our kids to be servants. Service oriented kids grow up to be productive adult servants in the kingdom and it’s those people to whom the Lord will say, “Come ye blessed of my Father,” according to Matthew 25. So it matters if I’m making a real effort, as a mom, to put the heart of a servant in my child. For this reason, I’ve decided to devote a post, every now and then, to a service suggestion—a simple idea for moms to make their homes busy service centers for young hearts and hands. I’d love to hear from those of you who try them. So here goes:
Handicapped Helpers
This is a no-brainer, but in a society in which I regularly watch healthy people walk right by those who truly need a door held open, an obstacle moved, or a bag carried, I’m going to go ahead and say the obvious: We need to teach our kids to actively seek opportunities to help the elderly and handicapped. We need to tell the stories of how Jesus, our Lord, tenderly healed the handicapped in our family Bible times. In so doing, we can explain that, although we cannot offer miraculous healing as He did, we do have much to offer those who may have a difficult time navigating the paths of a normal day. (In this article, we are using the word “handicapped” to mean those who have a difficult time “getting around.” We will save our suggestions about those who may be blind, deaf, mentally handicapped, etc.. for a later post.) Here are the “doting dozen” for handicapped-helping:
- Take an extra drive around the handicapped spaces sometimes at Wal-Mart to see if you can help someone unload a cart of groceries into the trunk of a car.
- Get your children excited when they see a person in a wheel chair entering or exiting a building. Make sure they are trained in getting that door open and holding it open till the back wheels are completely free of the doorway. This takes patience and practice.
- Train your kids to go and ask the person who is riding in the vehicle through the grocery store if there is something on a lower shelf or a higher shelf (as your child’s height permits) with which they can offer assistance.
- When someone elderly or handicapped (or anyone else, for that matter) drops an item, see that as a golden opportunity to put service in your child’s heart. Have him hurry to pick up items that are dropped.
- If you have someone who is on a walker in your congregation, teach your children to go and greet that person as soon as services are over and give any assistance possible in unfolding the walker. As a side note, try to be sure your children do not run and play roughly in the church auditorium after services, reminding them that there are elderly people who may have a real struggle navigating the aisles even when there are no children running.
- Have your kids wait at the door of the church building for those who are less mobile and open doors for them as they come in to worship.
- In the doctor’s waiting room, look for people who may be immobile and let your children ask them if they could bring them a magazine from the rack.
- Spend a Saturday with your kids cleaning the house of an elderly man or woman who might obviously have a difficult time getting down to the baseboards or up to the corner cobwebs.
- Go to the retirement home in your neighborhood (maybe even do this once a month), find a fun handicapped person with whom your child could build a rapport and take a milkshake (Make sure you find a resident who can have the sugar!). Bring one for your child, too, and let them just sit there and share some one-on-one time. You would be surprised what a hassle it is for elderly people to venture out and enjoy a simple pleasure like this. Your child will find great joy in making this simple pleasure easy for some appreciative soul.
- Be sure and shield your very young children from “sour” elderly people who might fuss at them for being “in the way” as they are trying to help. You can help these people yourself or let your older children be learning hard lessons about overcoming evil with good (Romans 12), but pick the “nice, sweet, encouraging” folks for your childrens’ first experiences in “handicapped helping.”
- If you have a house that’s handicapped accessible, prepare a meal for the Christians in your congregation who use walkers and wheelchairs or who are “slow walkers.”
- When you have assisted an elderly person at some point during the day, solidify the memory and add to the value of the very practical teaching you have done by praying for that person, by name, with your child before bed at night.
Savor the memories. This is fun!
…and another study tip letter from the recent contest…from Maria Cowden. Thanks Maria!
Dear Cindy:
It’s so much fun to study the Bible and especially so when there’s something particular I’m trying to understand more fully. I enjoy getting my Thompson chain reference Bible and looking up the subject and it’s related topics. I like to read every verse that I can find that relates to what I am studying.I also like to look on ChristianCourier.com for any writing that relates to the topic at hand. If it is a topic about which Apologetics Press has written, I also like to see what I can find on their website. Focus Press is also a good resource, although admittedly I have not surfed around their website as much, and don’t know how much is available there. I do have old copies of Think, if I “think” to look through them. We do have a lot of books, but most of them, excepting my ladies’ study books, live at my husband’s office, and the Internet is such a handy tool.Sometimes I go to StudyLight.org for a look at the Coffman commentaries. My husband has an iPad now, and since he is not totally comfortable with it yet, it is often at home. The ESV Bible on it has very handy navigation, and I am able to quickly and seamlessly read all the verses that have a given word in it, and move easily onto verses with similar meanings in them. I have really been enjoying that, and have come to read it a lot.I hope this is what you were asking for, and there’s not too much rambling. You and some other of my sisters have encouraged me to be a diligent student. Thank you.
