A Spark To Service

My oldest son is now over eight, and has been behaving much more maturely these past few weeks. This week, I had two bits of service that needed doing that I decided to take him on.

The first was an "emergency preparation drill" where I was to walk around and deliver a pamphlet to some nearby members of my church. He had a new light on his wheel and he was excited to use it in the dark, so I thought it would be fun if we got our bikes out and took a spin. We did and had a great time.

The second was a trip to a nearby church to set up chairs for a big meeting on Sunday. It just seemed appropriate to ask him to come with me, and so I did. He jumped at the chance, and we were two of just eight people who were there to set up over 1000 chairs. It was busy and hard work, but he again seemed to enjoy himself.

What I find most interesting is that my relationship with him has been great the past little while. Sometimes we seem to just butt heads all the time, but I've noticed that when both of us are engaged in service, we get along a lot better.

I'm so proud of him and of his desire to serve, and I hope that I can continue to set a good example for him and provide these opportunities to him, so that he can develop that inner spark that would encourage him to serve others of his own volition. He's a good kid, and I am grateful to be his father.