a family challenge (musings from Dawn Bodi)

A month or so ago I wrote a journal entry that reflected my own challenges to pursue a Year of Living Dangerously.  I am sharing it with my family's permission because I believe it raises an important question that we as parents, especially, need to consider in order to actually live this dangerous life we have been exploring and here it is:  Are we not serving our family better by teaching them to serve?

Journal Entry: 

I missed serving dinner at CFRC today.  I hemmed and hawed for three hours prior with indecision.  It had been a challenging week.  I was feeling exhausted and longing to get caught up on household duties and “nest” by trying something new for dinner.   So I opted to stay home to serve my family, to serve myself. 

As we sat around the dinner table I took note of the critique that the entrée had too much of this or that.  I listened as one child complained that food wasn’t handed off gently enough from another.  And I observed the few hands that offered to either serve food or clean up after and in that moment I knew I made a poor choice.

My mind wandered to the faces of the people at CFRC I saw the week prior.  The people lined up twenty minutes early for dinner. The woman they call “Grandma” who stayed late every week to wipe the tables down in gratitude.  And the elderly who walked ever so slowly from their neighboring home to the center – more anxious for interested eyes to meet their own than to receive food.

And in that moment of thought I felt silly and wanted my night back.  I wanted to choose differently and to take my family along with me to CFRC to serve because this was where the real meal was!

It was not our family who needed the ideal setting, cuisine, or circumstance.    It was and is others, those others who were just outside our door.  They too deserved to feel noticed, listened to, provided for … all the things that can actually harden our own hearts when we receive it in such abundance that we take it for granted. 

I am quite certain God is pleased when our family enjoys "sanctuary" over a meal or just gathering in the comfort of our home.  And as a wife and mother, I thoroughly enjoy doing my part to make that happen.  I am equally certain, however, that God desires for such moments to create in us a longing for others to experience sanctuary as well and do our part to see that it happens in whatever ministry God might lead us to. 

No … we won’t make that same mistake again.  With a greater dose of honesty and intentionality, we will all choose better.  And as parents, given the sacred task of guiding His children, may Frank and I have the wisdom to lead the way.

Can I pray for us all?

Dear Heavenly Father,

Keep our hearts and the hearts of our children, from being hardened by superficial abundance and comfort.  Teach us to be courageous and passionate about giving our life way in service to you and others.  Especially in our fast paced world, Lord, grant us wisdom to establish priorities and make purposeful choices with time and resources, so that all your created beings might experience life abundant through Christ Jesus alone.   Amen.