Serving With Joy

Jasmine and Megan vacuum the Foyer

Once a week our family has decided to serve our church by cleaning.  We've been doing this for awhile.  Some weeks it isn't convenient.  With five children and busy lives, it takes some planning to get to the church and clean.  However, we have deemed it important.

As a family, we all pitch in together.  Some weeks one child or another can't help.  Some weeks it's only me and young children.  I think the process of doing this, week after week, is teaching my children and even me a lot.  It's a thankless job.  No one really pays attention or thanks the cleaning people at church.  They just expect to walk into a clean church.  And that is okay.  We don't clean the church for recognition.  We clean it because the church needs to be cleaned.  Not getting any reward here on earth for a job unseen is perfectly fine.  It is teaching my children that serving God without a visible reward, and serving with joy, is something that God calls us to do.

With school beginning in a few days, our time at the church cleaning is going to add more to days that are already full.  However, the rewards may teach her more than she will ever get from school lessons.  If we can't serve and show love without reward, are we really following what we are supposed to be doing?