Family Focus: Family Blog Post #3 Serving
In the family, happiness is in the ratio in which each is serving the others, seeking one another’s good, and bearing one another’s burdens. HENRY WARD BEECHER, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
In a Facebook post that I shared on October 2, 2016, the original post says, “Happiness is when you realize that your children turned out to be good people.”
That certainly leads to the fact that I am, in fact, full of happiness. I tried very hard to raise my children with a belief that true happiness does not come from things. Things, fancy stuff, wealth… thing things might be fun and exciting, but that is all passing and shallow… true, deep, and long-lasting happiness comes from our interaction with other humans.
Good people, truly good people, are people who focus their lives not on accumulating, but with open-handed giving out. Good people serve other people.
My children serve people. Their lives are not consumed with getting. Their lives are characterized by giving. That is not to say that many times a life of character results in material gain. Of course, that may happen. But this is a by-product, a consequence and not a goal.
That being the case, it is logical that good parents, being good people, will endeavor to raise their children to be good people, who serve other people. This value, like most, is caught and not taught. The value is transferred to our children though the vehicle of modeling… our children must see us living to serve others. This must be done consciously, continuously, and in clearly observable (to your children, at least) ways.
I could not be more proud of all five of my children. Their lives all exhibit hearts that serve. They all clearly love and are committed to their own families, but they also clearly exhibit and other-focused-ness that makes a poppa proud.
————————–
If you would like to communicate further about this or any other issues, please email me at jimshaul@gmail.com and we can chat. We can also chat on Messenger once I know who you are.
If you would like to read more of my thoughts, please visit my blog: https://jimshaul.org and follow me there.
If you appreciate my posts, please consider Liking them and Sharing them below if you think they could be a blessing to others.
For His glory,
Jim