The Greatest Commandment
I know I am not a perfect parent, but there is something in seeing your child giving selflessly to another human that makes you stop and think to yourself, “You did good mom.”
Ever since my kids were old enough to understand I made it a big point to teach them not everyone was as fortunate as them. When it came time to let go of old toys, my kids would gladly fill the bags up with the thought that some kid somewhere was going to have something they otherwise wouldn’t.
When Liam was about four or five years old, we had stopped by the claw machines on our way out of Wal-Mart. Usually we didn’t win anything, and she would make this little pouty face, but never once would she complain. This time though there was a little girl sitting in the grocery cart while her mother was on the phone. She kept telling her over and over how she wanted this stuffed bear that was sitting on top inside the machine, but the mother was too preoccupied with her phone call to notice her daughter trying to get her attention. As luck would have it, we ended up winning that very same bear. Liam reached in to pull it out from the door flap, and without hesitating or me saying anything to her, she walked over, handed it to the little girl and in her tiny mouse-like voice said, “Hereyago. I have enough bears at home.” The adoration that girl showed that bear and how she hugged it was so rewarding; for all of us I believe.
A couple Saturdays ago, my mother and father-in-law took us out to eat at Texas Roadhouse for my husband’s birthday. Although the noise level could have easily been knocked down a few notches, all-in-all we had an awesome time. While packing up our leftovers in to-go containers, my in-laws told us to go ahead and take theirs home as well. We loaded up to head back to Olney, but for some reason I took a wrong turn leaving the parking lot (I knew which way I needed to go) and ended up driving past a blood bank. Liam (now 14 years old) pointed out with sadness in her voice that there was a homeless man sleeping by the door. We stopped and my husband took him our leftovers (which he proceeded to consume immediately). I was thinking about how I wished we had a drink or something else to give him and before I could really even finish my thought process, Liam handed her leftover allowance money to Chris to go take him. In that moment I had tears in my eyes. I knew then that no matter how much I might’ve screwed up being a mom in the past, I knew that I had done something right to raise such caring, kind, selfless kids.
We need more of this in today’s society. The performance of selfless acts towards others. And while some of you might think straight toward how he probably went and spent it on drugs or alcohol, we didn’t. We saw a person in need and helped how we could. There was a reason I took that wrong turn and I believe it was divine intervention. Jesus said to love thy neighbor. Your poor neighbor, your rich neighbor and your homeless neighbor… love thy neighbor regardless of societal situations and circumstances.
I shared this with you readers not to boast about her good deeds (although I am one proud mama), but to hopefully inspire you to be kind and love thy neighbor as well. The greatest commandment is to Love, how will YOU put it into action?