Dear Heavenly, Father,
You know Moms are crazy about their kids; Moms are the child's cheering section at every game or performance.
Yet, I wonder if just maybe we could do things a bit different!
Today as I read Matthew 20 I gleamed a new and different perspective.
Are we in this day and age missing the mark in values we teach our young? If so, please forgive us and show us how to raise the children to be less performance oriented and to have kind, humble, unselfish, generous hearts filled with desires to do good deeds in secret as they serve others without desiring any awards or recognition.
Maybe even as parents we pride ourselves when our children are put front and center again and again (while a more struggling child is ignored). Forgive us!
Help our children to be encouragers to others less able by giving a pat on the back, a "hand-up" ,or verbal "atta boys" that brings confidence and hope.
Help them not to measure others as harshly as often this society does by appearance, by biggest and best, by most expensive, or by latest style.
Create in each child a learning then teaching ability is what I perceive is your desire in Matthew 20 -- where first they learn than they share freely what they know and not to compete but to build up the whole group circle each finds themselves in; where EVERYONE gets a fair share of opportunity and no one hogs front and center stage and no one lags behind.
Forgive us like the mother in this story in Matthew 20, we seem to have become a very shallow narcissistic society. Help the children to reach out a helping hand to others around them and give them servant hearts.
In this generation please help all the children to experience the inner joys of serving others and the ability to wait for your crowned jewels in heaven.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen
The Request of the Mother of James and John
Matthew 20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him.
21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? ”They said to him, “We are able.”
23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.
26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;
28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
The Statler Brothers - Let Me Be A Little Kinder
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