The Cousins' 52 Weeks of Service

We are just a simple little family trying to teach our kids how to love God and love others (and trying to learn the same while we are at it).

More and more these days I have been feeling that God wants me and my family to show our love (and thus His love) for others by serving them.

God tells us in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. And if God's own son came to serve then would should that mean for me? It probably means that if I want to love others like God wants me to then I should probably seek to serve, seek to put others first, and seek out ways to creatively and simply love the people around me.

It sounds pretty easy really. Except that I'm human. And busy. And tired. And selfish (if I'm being honest). But maybe that means that I need to serve even more than the people around me need anything I have to offer. I have a feeling that God wants me to do these things not just to show His love to the people around me, but also to do a work on MY heart.

And so God gave me this idea (through a couple of other sources combined) to engage my family with a year of various service projects. To be honest I sort of tried to talk myself out of it towards the end of December telling myself that it's just too much to try to attempt with a three year old and a one year old. But then God just sort of laid it on my heart again that there will never be an "easy" time to love people the way He wants me too. And that there may be no better time to start showing my children (rather than just telling them) how to serve others (instead of always being served).

So, we're doing it (with God's help that is). We are going to attempt one act of family service each week this year. The Cousins' 52 Weeks of Service. Simple things (and maybe a few "bigger" ones along the way). Just something small each week that we can purposely do as a family to serve our friends, our church, our neighbors, our community, and even complete strangers. I think it's going to be challenging. And fun. And humbling. And I think that our little family is going to get much more out of it than anybody on the other end of our acts of service. It's my heart and prayer that God would use even these small things to bring Himself glory.

And I'll keep all of you updated along the way!