From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16
When my family goes to the beach, each of us has a part in getting settled in a good spot on the beach. Each person carries something from the car to our beach spot. If I had to carry it all by myself, it would take 4xs the amount of time to get everything to the beach and then more time to get it all set up. I am a strong woman, but I simply can’t do everything myself. If I try to, it’s a poor example for my children.
Part of me training my children is helping them realize we all need each other. Things simply run smoother when everyone is working together. Each of us is good at different things or is the right size to carry different things. When we all do what we’re good at and capable of, we support each other like ligaments) and help each other grow and build each other up in love.
As a mom it’s tempting to do everything ourselves. When our children are young it is so much quicker to make breakfast, lunch and dinner on our own. Teaching little fingers the right way to hold the butter knife to put peanut butter on the sandwich takes about as long as finishing the entire lunch. What happens, though, when you are sick in bed and your children don’t know how to make lunch for themselves? Wouldn’t it be lovely if your children could make themselves lunch and bring you a sandwich, as well?
We are not meant to serve the family alone, everyone has a role. This is part of training our children to face the cultural “waves,” as well. When they realize they are part of solving problems around the house and building each other up in the process, they will eventually see they are part of solving problems in different areas in their lives – helping their teacher clean up the classroom, walking their younger siblings across a street, helping to clean up the apartment before guests come, and so on and so on.
When we invite our children into serving the rest of the family, we are teaching them that serving others is part of building others up and becoming mature.
How can you begin to build your children up in serving the family to help them mature?