Service Jar

Last fall I was listening to our church leaders speaking, when I heard this talk about service.  I had been pondering ways to teach my children to serve each other as well as others around us.  So one night our family talked about honeybees, and how it takes many bees working together to produce honey.  I related this to our family, how it takes all of us working together to make a strong family. 

I loved this quote from Elder Ballard,"Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon."  This is a seemingly small amount, but is significant to the hive. 

We started filling a service jar (an empty pickle jar) with water for acts of service.  Each act of service received a teaspoon of water.  I will admit that I often forgot to ask my children about their service, so we probably could have filled the jar much faster.  My boys would often serve at school by holding the doors open.  When the jar was filled we celebrated by going to Classic Fun center.  The kids had a great time jumping on the inflatables, climbing through the jungle, and the boys played laser tag. I did not get very good pictures since the kids were in constant motion, but wanted to remember the day. 

Two things I have learned from this include our family's increased attention to the service that others do for us, and that each family member can serve.  Alyssa will often comment, "that's service" when she notices someone helping her out.  It was great to hear Parker say that I had served him by fixing dinner for him.  Even Spencer serves by helping Caleb with the dishwasher, helping Alyssa put her clothes away, or carrying dirty clothes to the hamper.