Servantesses
This post is about four young ladies who greatly encouraged me last night with their servant leadership.
The first young lady is my ten year old daughter, Miranda. Miranda loves to take care of children – yes, I know that she is only ten years old. She can’t wait until she is a little older so that she can baby sit. A few weeks ago, we were talking to Miranda about ways that she could serve people. She said that she would love to baby sit for some parents so that the parents could have a night out. But, she said that she knew that she was not old enough yet to baby sit on her own. She said that maybe one of the single ladies that we knew would be interested in helping her keep the children so the parents could have a date night.
The second young lady is my wife Margaret. When Miranda said that she wanted to baby sit several children, Margaret volunteered our home and agreed to host whatever Miranda and others could come up with. She knew that it would mean more work for her – cleaning the house, buying and preparing snacks, coordinating everything with the parents – but she wanted to help Miranda serve, so she gave of herself and her time. This is the kind of example that Miranda needs as she grows into a young lady. Margaret is one of the most giving and caring people that I know, and I’m so grateful to God that she is my wife.
Another young lady is a new friend of ours named Katie. We spoke to Katie just a few days after we talked to Miranda about serving others. Katie told us that she wanted to serve others by keeping some children so that their parents could have a break – a “Parents Night Out”, if you will. Yes, our jaws dropped to the floor, since this was exactly what Miranda had wanted to do. We mentioned this to Katie, and she said she would love to work with Miranda. This was very exciting for us, because Katie would not only be helping Miranda serve others, she would also be discipling Miranda in the process. We agreed to host the children at our house, Katie picked a date, and we emailed the church to let them know.
The final young lady is a friend that we have known for a few years named Patti. While parents were contacting us to let us know that they would bring their children for Parents Night Out, and that they were appreciative of this opportunity, Patti called to volunteer to help take care of the children. Again, our jaws dropped to the floor! We love spending time with Patti, and here was another chance to spend time with her, and for Miranda and the other children to see her servant’s heart as she volunteered to help. (By the way, we had not asked for volunteers, so we were so grateful to God for giving Patti this idea, and for her willingness to act on it.)
So, here are four young ladies – all servants – volunteering to give up their time to help parents and children at the same time. These are the kind of examples that I need in my life, and I thank God for all four of them. (If you would like to see these servantesses in action, we’ve posted some pictures on our family blog is a post called “Parents Night Out“.)
Thank-you so much for sharing this story. These are the stories that individuals should be sharing.
Some may say these are “little” things but they are BIG things that make HUGE impacts … some that we might not even notice at first.
I was thinking about the “little” things that happened this week that were more important than the “big” things that were done.
I’m a little behind on my reading, but I wanted to leave a comment. This post really encouraged me. Your daughter is learning to be a doer, not just a hearer. I agree with Jeff that these are big things that make huge impacts.
Jeff,
Thank you for the encouragement. I agree that little things make big impacts.
Mary,
Yes, this is very exciting to me. I’m glad that my daughter has had women like these and others in her life.
-Alan