Seven months
For seven months I’ve been serving every week. It’s sort of surreal. This is ME we’re talking about. Not someone who was born to save the world. Not someone who wakes up wondering who she gets to care for today. Not Mother Theresa, not Shane Claiborne. Just me.
The church I attend, Kaleo Covenant, is in the midst of deciding if we should partner with another church in ministry. On Sunday, Troy, our pastor, explained Kaleo’s mission and vision to the other congregation. I realized how fortunate I am surrounded by others sharing the belief that showing others Jesus’ love is way more powerful than just telling others about it.
At an impromptu moment, Troy asked me to share about my heart for serving. That’s right. Me.
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| Doing something I hate (manual labor) with a church I love. |
My tale
I stood and told members of the other church that I am lazy by nature. I never wanted to give up my time to teach Sunday School, let alone feed the homeless. Having money deducted from our checking account every month for our Compassion sponsored child made a difference in someone else’s life. I convinced myself that was enough.
Besides, I was in a phase of life. You know, the phase of “too busy”. But not too busy to watch t.v., surf the internet for hours, or join a friend for lunch any day of the week.
As I spoke, I referred to one of Troy’s messages last Fall. He preached on chapter 2 in Philippians from the New Testament of the Bible. Verse 7 stood out to me. Jesus didn’t come as a holy magician, able to conjure up a royal life for himself. He came to serve. He made himself “nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.”
If I had the power of God, I can assure you – serving others would not be the first thing on my list. And that made me think, “Why? Why doesn’t my heart think of others first?”
And the rest of that story you can read about here, where I describe my quest for 2012.
Changed (mostly)
Sharing my story with people who don’t know me opened my eyes a little wider. I am not the same person I was 7 months ago. What used to be uncomfortable situations and meeting uncomfortable people now doesn’t phase me at all. I’m growing. I’m maturing. I’m gaining compassion.
Today my daughters and I will be delivering our monthly route for the SCAT food pantry. Before this year, volunteering was something we did once in a while. Now, it’s just something we do. Like grocery shopping or going to school. It’s part of who we are as a family.
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| SCAT Food Pantry – my new home away from home |
I still feel I have a long way to go to genuinely have that “nature of a servant”, the attitude where I think about others before myself. Everywhere I see people starting movements, fighting for justice, getting in the thick of danger to help others. I’m not even close to doing something like that. Will I grow even more in the next 5 months?
After all, this is ME we’re talking about.
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