Last night I had a glimmer of hope that maybe this one teaching was sinking into my 17 year old. My husband is in charge putting up some of the tens of thousands of Christmas lights that adorn our temple each Christmas season. He had informed us several weeks ago that he had a large group coming to help and he needed Preston and I to help, too.
As Preston and I drove down to help, Preston remembered that he was supposed to check and make sure his group of boys had a service activity for their weekly meeting tonight. He called his adult advisor to see what he needed to do. Preston was told that since his whole youth group would be putting together gift bags for the city of Tempe on Saturday and five of the boys would be setting up flags for Veteran's Day today, that that was enough service for this week and they would do something else for their activity tonight.
My son hung up the phone, explained the situation to me and said, "Can you do too much service?"
He then proceeded to spend the next four hours hauling boxes of lights, running extension cords and sitting at the top of an orange tree stinging light around it and I never heard a complaint or a whine.
At this time of year when we turn our thoughts to the things we are thankful for, I am thankful that maybe, just maybe, one thing I hoped to instill in my son has taken root. And I hope he continues to see the value and joy in service though out his life.
2 comments:
He ha probably learned it. It just takes time for some of the things that our parents teach us to manifest itself.
I agree! Doesn't it make you feel good when you see signs that all your hard work in trying to teach your children good habits has taken root?
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