Strangers and Service
I am not an especially wise woman. I have not been around very long and I have only experienced so much, but I am convinced that there is no other experience quite like taking the opportunity to serve another person.
I’m not just talking about serving loved ones here. It’s easy for me to go out of my way to make my family, friends, or kickin’ fiancé feel loved. As Jesus reveals to his followers, anyone can do that. I am talking about giving up a chunk of your life to serve people you may not like, or people you don’t even know. This is truly a thrill and exercise in holiness, and I have been graced with countless opportunities as a CBU student to do just that.
This past weekend I had the chance to head to a local church with my Focus group and spend several hours serving its needs. None of us are members at this church, and we had not yet met anyone we would be working with, but this honestly contributed so much to the experience. We quickly connected with those at the church as we planted bushes, mulched beds, set up equipment, and sorted through dumpsters. There is nothing quite like manual labor to serve as an icebreaker, after all.
As we worked together, I was overcome by the beauty of the experience we got to participate in. Not only did we get to work alongside each other as friends, we got to meet and bless other members of God’s Kingdom as they moved forward in their ministry. In some small way, we got to share the character of Christ with those whom we would not have otherwise met. This is part of the beauty of being a human, and a bit of the joy experienced in living a life of service to God and others.
This is why being a part of Focus is one of the best things I could have done this year. The program not only connects new students, it gives us a chance to serve the community. That, readers, is a gorgeous thing.
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