Life of Service

Hey everyone!

I’ve been trying my best to stay consistent with posting blogs on Tuesdays (my rest day), but living a life of inconsistency makes it hard to be consistent. This last week and a half, our rest day was skipped over. There was another group of girls that came here for a few days to do therapy with the girls in the drug rehab program. This threw off our “regular” schedule quite a bit. I ended up working in a kitchen for most of the day making food, washing dishes, and going through food donations. 

Let’s talk about food donations for a second- that’s gross. People donate fruits and vegetables in big rice sacks to the organization, but half of them are rotten already. When I was elbow deep in rotten fruits trying to find just one good one, I was confused what the point even was. But watching the resourcefulness of the people here has showed me a new point of view completely. Even a carrot that’s completely rotten on the outside can have good parts cut out of it. They take so much stuff that we would just toss out and make something delicious out of it. It was beautiful to watch. There were multiple times that it would have been really easy to complain about my circumstances, but I was having too much fun. It was one of those things that was so weird and unusual that you wanted to do it no matter how bad it looked. I remember sitting in a tiny chair surrounded by rotten juices coming out of fruit, my clothes completely covered in it, my arms all the way up to my elbow covered it mashed up, rotten food. I thought about how in that moment, I was learning more about being a servant of others than I could have anywhere else. 

I’ve been involved in service projects and service organizations for years, but there are very few people I know who would have been happy, even willing after convincing, to do a job like that. The difference is the motivation behind it. So many people have the motivation to serve others so that they can make a name for themselves, look good on a resume, or feel better about themselves. 

Yet a life with Jesus calls you to serve others. A service that isn’t recognized by others. Where you truly want to do something to help people even if you’re never noticed by your peers or friends or mentors. 

A life of service calls for interruption. When you walk down the street and see someone struggling to carry a box, do you stop and help? When you see someone with a limp while you’re out shopping, do you stop and pray for them? When you see a pile of dirty dishes that “someone” needs to clean, do you stop and wash them whether you’ll be noticed or not?

A life with Jesus is a life of service- whether noticed or not. 

A life of service is a life consistent inconsistency. Be ready for the Lord to interrupt your day, your plans. My days here are so consistent with inconsistency. Even as a person who schedules out their whole day, my favorite part is usually the time the Lord changes my plan. Once you start to schedule in daily interruptions and let the Lord be in control of your schedule, you will do things that you never could have imagined. Be ready to help someone and stop what you’re doing. 

Live a life of service.