We drive our neighbor the the doctor every time she asks, even though the steps it requires are enough to make most people’s head spin.

Every Day Hero a

Put the baby in a snow suit, Malone in a jacket. Buckle the baby into the car seat and car. Buckle  Malone in the car. Drive a half a block to the neighbor’s house.  Load the neighbor into our car from her wheel chair. Put the chair in the trunk. Drive to the appointment. Load the neighbor back in her chair and pray she doesn’t roll too fair while I unload the Malone. Put the baby in the sling. Wheel the neighbor with one hand across the parking lot. Hold Malone’s with the other.  Entertain Malone in the waiting room, nurse the baby.

Reverse the order of the steps. Drive back home.

I don’t know any other way to teach my son about how to serve others,  other than do to do it myself and include him. He loves to run ahead a little bit, he’s figured out how to open the doors with the handicap button. He holds the door as I push her through. He plays quietly on the rug with his cars as we wait.

I’ve had to work to gain a servant’s heart. I’ve had to overcome the lie that whispered “You can’t do it. It is too hard. She will find someone else to help.”

And in the process of that, I have discovered the joy of loving my neighbor as myself. We look forward to the days we get to take her.

For him, it is becoming second nature to think of others before himself.

Yesterday at playgroup, he asked to help the leader without my prompting. I could tell he enjoyed serving his peers as he handed out the shaker eggs for music time.

This might be one of the greatest gifts I can give him. One that will continue long after he’s grown.

An every day hero. With a servant’s heart.

This post has been linked up with Lisa Jo Baker and her Five Minute Friday prompt. Each week, hundreds of writers write for FIVE minutes on a topic, hit publish without editing, link up, and comment on each other’s blogs. It is one of the sweetest communities I’ve found. Please play along, if you’d like. 

If you are looking for this week’s Ask Away Friday post, it is right here. I love both of these link ups so much that I will probably double post on Fridays for quite sometime. If you are here from #FMF, Ask Away Friday is a link up where two bloggers trade 10 questions and answer them on their own blogs. I’d love to switch if you, if you’d like. Email me at acookiebeforedinner@gmail.com