How many things have people served you with in your life? I am not talking about the restaurants you go to and the paid services, but real service. The random person that helps you when your car breaks down, the person that helps you with a project with no gain of their own, the person that helps you with a mess or offers you shelter under an umbrella during a storm. Maybe you have been the recipient of a lot of service in your life, or maybe you have been fortunate enough to not need much in the way of service. But, let’s face it… we all need something from time to time and how nice is it when someone lends a willing hand?
This past weekend my church did a Good Neighbor program and it was an amazing event. It was just a remarkable feeling to be a part of a service movement of over 3,000 people going out to over 80 sites and serving over 40 different causes. Church service was cancelled for the weekend and there were 4 shifts of volunteers. This was for all ages and all types of people to get out there and show that they are a Good Neighbor and hopefully influence others to be the same. Everyone met in the morning, received assignments and then a large fleet of us left the church. We all turned in different directions, but all had the same goal; “I am going to go out and help today”. The pictures and stories from the weekend are incredible. One of the most astonishing numbers was the 83,000 meals that were packaged by the groups assigned to the Kids Against Hunger campaign. I saw lots of pictures, but one of my favorites was a little boy, maybe six or seven, washing the feet of another little boy about the same age because he didn’t have any shoes. The recipient was getting some new socks and shoes that day and this young man was washing the dirt from his tired soles. It tugged at my heart to see the seeds of service being planted in both of these young boys.
(This was our little crew before we started. We went to a prairie to collect native grass seeds and rare flower seeds for Hamilton County Parks and Rec for them to plant next spring in other locations in the County)
Brian and I met our freshman year of college in our pledge semester of Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed community service fraternity. We were, in essence, born from service. I enjoyed serving in high school a few times and really needed APO when it came into my life. Great people, greater mission and over three years of incredible friends and memories were made. When we graduated and went on with our lives service diminished a bit in the chaos of life. But, when we had kids we agreed that service was a practice we wanted to make routine and common for all of us. After serving as the children’s service coordinator for my mom’s organization and serving on the committee an additional year I found a refreshed sense of service and opportunities out there. Though many times I felt like I was pulling teeth I felt driven by the importance of our children having a serving heart. I have said before that I am not raising children, but future women; women that have potential to change the world one service at a time.
(Lana found her own little stretch of grasses and was there a while)
(Trinity did an awesome job getting down and dirty in the thick of the prairie. The girls all found the right things after our short tutorial at the beginning)
(It was hard to tell where the girls were sometimes!)
(Even Journey was a trooper. We all worked out there for two and a half hours and collected bags and bags of seeds)
(It was very peaceful out there)
(Her little, not even two year old body needed a little rest for a few minutes. She cracks me up!)
We all have this potential everyday. To think of everything that could use your help globally is overwhelming and impossible, but not doing anything about any cause is foolish and selfish. There is an entire world out there of hands reaching out for help and all you need to do is grab one. Isn’t that one of the best lessons we can teach our children? Help those in need! Serve those that need served and learn about the world as you do. So many times our children are unintentionally encompassed in their own world and forget about the other parts of life. All of us, especially children, have so much love in our hearts that can be spread and cherished by so many. We are all neighbors right? Those in the house or apartment next to you, those in your city, and those in your state, country and continent… even those on the opposite side of the world. We are all here together, at the same time. Undoubtedly some make terrible choices and don’t look back. But others make those choices and realize their fault and try to correct it and still others (too many others) have awful choices made for them at no fault of their own. But we, all of us, can help each other and our planet that so desperately needs us. We just need to make that choice.
Put some good out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment