Serving
Bedtime Theology with the 7 yo... Me: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord (jokingly to my kids, trying to get them out of the house). 7 yo: Why do you say serve the Lord? I don't wanna serve the Lord. Me: Why not? 7 yo: If I got food ready and traveled up in space to bring it to God, by the time I got there I'd be dead. Me: Well, maybe we don't have to literally serve God like that. Maybe we can serve God by being kind and caring toward other people. That makes God happy and that's serving God. 7 yo: Oh! I forgot about that! My earliest model of serving was that my mom did all the household chores. We'd all be sitting at the dinner table and my mom would be rushing around the kitchen, pulling things out of the fridge and the oven, washing one more dish in the sink (no dishwasher) and pouring milk. I supposed we (kids) must have helped some, but mostly I remember her catering to our every need. People say these things are generational, and that is true, but I