Mission-Minded, Part 3

I’m back to finish where I left off as we talk about mission.  Last time, I talked about my most important goal of raising children who love Jesus. But I also want them to be a:

LOVER of OTHERS

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it:
YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

Matthew 22:37-39

Jesus said that everything in life hinges on these two commandments.
When I first wrote out my mission statement that first commandment was obvious and made the cut. But for some reason, I didn’t even think about the second.  This last year has been one of reawakened hunger for the Word of God and His presence.  As I've searched the Scriptures, this verse just keeps jumping out time and time again...

Of course, now that my kids are getting a bit older, we actually have to work on what it means, practically, to love one another.

And really, the home is the perfect place to start fleshing this out.  Conflict abounds and there is ample opportunity to learn what it means to sacrificially love someone else. It is encouraging to see lessons that they are learning at home with their brothers being played out as they interact with others. 

Having this in mind really helps put the all too frequent conflict in perspective.  Instead of being annoyed, I'm learning to embrace these opportunities to teach and guide my children.  Talk about a sanity saver...

So there you have it.  Since this is my new addition to the mission, I'm high on ideals and just starting to gather ideas on how to go about implementing this.  I'd love to hear what anyone else is doing to train/demonstrate/model loving others to their children.

We've started with discussions on "who" is our neighbor and of course strong emotions have started to emerge, so we have also started discussions on loving our enemies too! 
Next up: Lovers of Learning

Mission Minded - Part 1, Part 2, Part 4