Kid of the Week

³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

 ³⁶"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

 ³⁷They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." –Mark 10:35-37

When my boys were little they were like all siblings... they would fight--about just about everything.  They would fight about who got to sit in the front seat, who got to pick the TV show, who got the bigger piece of... well... anything.  If you are a parent of more than one child, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

It drove me absolutely crazy that they would fuss about such unimportant things!  I tried everything... even removing the argument, such as not letting them watch TV at all if they couldn’t decide on a program peacefully or making them both sit in the back seat, but that only made matters worse.  They would fight about whose fault it was! 

I finally came up with the perfect solution that worked wonders for years and years to come.  I instituted the “Kid of the Week” program at the House of Hayes.  The boys would rotate weeks at being “kid of the week” and would get all the perks available that week.  He got to sit in the front seat ALL week… he got to pick the TV programs ALL week… he got to choose first, go first, and be first at everything.  Only Richard or I could overrule as long as we had a good reason.    And it worked beautifully. At first it was tough for the other kid to humble themselves, but they knew if they wanted good treatment the next week, they had to.

Don’t we all want to be “kid of the week” ALL the time in our Father’s kingdom?  We always want special treatment.  We want our prayers answered even at the expense of another.  We want to make sure our own rights are not violated even if it means trampling all over someone else’s rights in the process.  We want prosperity to rain down on us even when we see our neighbor doing without basic necessities.   We want to be honored, respected and loved even when we don’t honor respect and love others.

What we really ought to be doing is treating everyone else like “kid of the week” all the time. Offer someone else the best seat… the biggest portion… the first choice.  It is a wonderful joy to do that… especially if we wanted it for ourselves. 

I will never forget the time early on in our “kid of the week” program when Daniel asked me if just because he was “kid of the week” did he HAVE to sit in the front seat.  I told him, of course not… the point was, he got to choose.  He said, “okay, then I want to let Kevin sit in the front this time!”  That led to occasional bursts of generosity from each of them every week when the kid of the week would give the other the honor of the best choice.  They discovered that even though at first it was hard to give up what they wanted, they received even more joy by doing it when they didn’t have to.

What a great lesson for us all to learn!

Father,
We know that in your heart each one of us is ALWAYS “kid of the week” but you take special joy in watching us serve others first, because you know we are learning important lessons when we do that.  Open our hearts to the generosity that lives in each of us.  Amen.