Recently I have been reading through several books regarding teaching our children compassion and helping them grow hearts to serve. One of these books is titled Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World. As I began reading this book I had the thought, simply from the title, that I could use this book to change the hearts of my often selfish children. I dove into the book and read the first few chapters without hesitation ready for insight on how I could create unselfish children.
I had been enjoying the insights from this book and was pondering them over doing a load of dishes. However, as I emptied the dishwasher, for the second time that day, I was thinking to myself "I really hate unloading the dishwasher" ..."I wish we had a better dishwasher, half of these dishes are not even clean"..."I really like the dishwasher my friend just got, you can't even hear it when it's running." Then these thoughts turned into a full fledged 'I want to keep up with the Jones-es pity party'! By the time I realized where my thoughts had gone I was feeling depressed and wanting to buy a new... well...everything! Wow, what a selfish and discontented attitude.
God has such a sense of humor, and I love that about Him! As happens so many times when God leads me to a book like this I was convicted after the first 2 chapters. In my quest to change the hearts of my children I realized that my heart needed some adjusting. I needed to step back and readjust where my eyes were focused.
Colossians 3:1-2
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated on the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
I began to realize the first step to helping my children be content and compassionate was to make sure my eyes were focused in the right place. Of course, setting my mind on things above is a daily struggle. I just need to keep my heart focused on Christ.
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