God only knows how encouraging Charlene Notgrass’ blog has been to me over the years. My kids are adults now, but I have gleaned so much wisdom and great teachings about motherhood through Mrs. Notgrass’ blogs; they’re a gem to me. I love sharing them with you whenever I read one that I find particularly encouraging and/or convicting. I hope you don’t mind. 🙂

You can read the blog post that I’m referring to in this post here. It encouraged me this morning, so I wanted to share.

If you’d like, please read Charlene Notgrass’ blog first, then come back and finish the rest of this blog or keep reading and then read her blog post, if that’s what you prefer. 

A few things that stood out to me in this blog were:

“Cooperation makes it happen.”

“A basic skill that children must learn is how to lay down their own agendas so they can bless other people, starting with the members of their own family. At the root of cooperation is a willingness to consider the needs and desires of other people and to sacrifice my own needs and desires to meet them.”

“Parents know how difficult it can be to teach a child to consider the needs of others.”

God tells us many times in His Word to be humble, serve others, and be selfless. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves, do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4). 

Oh, this flesh! This is so hard to do, even for ourselves, how much more to teach it to our children? But teach we must! And not only teach, but live it out as well. But how?

Thankfully, we have the answer in the very next verse that teaches us how to live this selflessness out by looking to our Savior. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself, taking the form a bond-servant…He humbled Himself..” (Philippians 2:5-11). He didn’t look out for His personal interests, but the interests of others. Christ did nothing from selfishness or empty-conceit, but had humility of mind. 

Our Lord is our example, He is our model. And what a great example and model He is! Our kids look to us as we model Christ to them. May they see in us, God-fearing, humble, repentant, tender-hearted, kind, compassionate, prayerful, selfless, serving women, and much more, to the glory of God.

God bless you, always!

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

~ Philippians 2:1-16