Go Beyond

“This is hard work,” said one boy as he raked leaves onto a pile. “But I like it because we are helping others and it makes you strong.” Wise words from a child. This past Saturday, two of our Adult Bible Fellowships joined forces to take part in one of our service initiatives. The best thing about the day was the number of parents and kids who showed up to work in spite of the misting rain. Jon Davis, our Missions Associate, planned several projects for us at the local YMCA Day Camp. While Jon led our adults, he asked me to lead our kids in raking leaves and sowing grass seed around the playground at the camp. I loved spending the morning with our kids and a few of the moms and dads who helped supervise the group. The morning offered good opportunities to talk with our kids about the importance of serving.

Among other things, we talked about the importance of working together to do a big job. It would have taken an adult all day to do what our kids were able to complete in a couple of hours. After raking the leaves our kids worked together to bag the leaves.They quickly learned that things worked best if someone held the bag open while others tossed in small handfuls of leaves, but they got it all done. And then they worked together to wrestle the bags into the wheelbarrows to transport them to the burn pile. Because the leaves were wet, the bags were really heavy, even for adults, but the kids insisted on doing it themselves. When it was all done they felt a real sense of accomplishment.

After raking the leaves we prepared to sow grass seed on the bare wet ground. However, before doing so I shared the parable of the soils from Matthew 13 and we talked for a few minutes about the meaning of this story that Jesus had shared with His disciples. And then we sowed grass seed. The kids absolutely loved it. Even the very youngest felt that they were doing something very important to help others. At the end of the day we did more than rake leaves and sow grass seed, we gave parents and kids an opportunity to make some wonderful memories of serving together. Days like Saturday are an important part of teaching kids how to serve and how to make serving others a part of who they are. Experiences like those we shared at the YMCA Day Camp are about raising servants — and fulfilling an important part of Kingsland’s purpose statement of “equipping the generations one home at a time.” Just another reason why I love what I do!