For the last few months, the church has been working towards “Love Works Outward.” I was a little nervous about it. It seemed like a huge endeavor to tackle and even though I was not responsible for its success, I still felt the weight of it. After the projects were nominated and approved and I was appointed a “project lead”, my anxiety increased. I was sort of looking forward to it and at the same time looking forward to its completion. Yet, my experience this past Sunday was a blessing beyond my expectations! As a result, I would like to share 7 major takeaways.
- Serving is all about patience. After all the groups met at the church Sunday morning, we were dismissed to head over to our service locations. I had conveniently forgotten to load up the cleaning supplies we were going to need so I had to run back into the church building to scrounge around for whatever I could find. By the time I grabbed what I could and made my way back to my car, I was already running behind. Since I was the “project lead” and had the pre-existing relationship with the person we were serving, I wanted to get there before the rest of the group arrived. I decided to take a short cut to avoid a certain traffic light and found myself behind a farm tractor for the next 2+ miles. We rolled along at a brisk 15 MPH. I started to get frustrated before realizing what God was doing. He was causing me to slow down and trust in Him. It was that few extra minutes that gave me time to pray and relax, which made a world of difference.
- Serving requires flexibility. Some of the work went according to plan. Some of it did not. My aforementioned failure to bring cleaning supplies meant we were without some important things. However, we found other ways to clean what we needed. Additionally, everything we wanted to do was not possible in three hours. We had to change up some plans on the fly and were able to leave the house in good working order by the time we left.
- Serving provides opportunities to try something new. One of the projects at the house was replacing two window screens. It was the part I was most nervous about going into this. Only one of our volunteers had done that previously and he was also our best drywall repair person so he was busy on that project. But, two of our teammates figured it out before I even had the chance to share my newly acquired YouTube knowledge.
- Serving is a great way to get teens involved. Out of our group of 16, five were teens. Even though some of them were unsure how they could help, they all eagerly jumped in. Some assisted with painting, some with landscaping, and one ran errands to pick up some needed tools (also forgotten by me). I loved seeing their enthusiasm and willingness to get their hands dirty to help a stranger in need.
- Serving is a great way to meet others in our church. Our group consisted of half of my community group and half from other families in the church. Even though I knew most of the people by sight, I had not spent much time with them before. Working alongside people gave me a glimpse into who they are and how they love others. One couple is new to our church. Just spending a few minutes together cleaning the glue off old flooring allowed us to find out where we were from and what brought us all to Tennessee. I really enjoyed the time of making stronger connections with those I worship with.
- It requires vulnerability to be served. When you serve someone, especially in their home, they are opening up their life to you in a way that may feel scary. The family we served needed some help around the house with repairs and cleaning. We arrived with a crew of sixteen people, most of whom were unknown to the family. Within a few minutes, we are moving furniture around so that we can paint walls, removing doors to bedrooms that needed repair, and more. That can leave people feeling exposed. As we worked and moved through the house I recognized that not only is this work a blessing to the family, but it is also a blessing to us that we get to be invited into their lives so deeply. I don’t want to overlook that part of this.
- Serving opens the door to relationship. As we were accomplishing tasks and the homeowner realized that so much was getting done, this person started to open up. As the homeowner shared their life and experience, we had a member of our group who had some similar experiences. What was most likely the best use of the time and impactful part of the project, our teammate spent about 45 minutes listening and building relationship. As great as it feels to have projects completed around the house….. what feels infinitely greater is to be heard and known and loved, especially when what you share is hard. This is why we do “Love Works Outward” and why I am already looking forward to next year.