Women Today
Teaching Kids to Go the Extra Mile
Me: “Hey, {insert child’s name}, will you help me {set the table/carry the laundry/vacuum the floor}?”
Kid, with a dramatic groan: “But that’s not my chore this week!”
**Repeat variations of this conversation a dozen times, with all of my children, over several weeks.**
Me to myself:Time for a family talk.
With this attitude problem in mind, last week the kids and I held a quick devotion time before school. We turned to Matthew 5:41–42: “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
Kind of a strange passage, right? Not your usual “encourage the kids to help around the house with a good attitude” scripture.
Encounter Jesus
An incarnate God who was humble enough to leave heaven and dwell on earth--not to sit on a throne but to know poverty among his created beings. "He anointed us, set the seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (1 Corinthians 1:21 - 22)Then from within our own hearts his Spirit works prompting encouraging, comforting, enlightening and revealing to us the Lord's glory. Tune into that glory. Experience and delight in that glory! (1 Corinthians 3:17-18)
