The Joy of Service

Had a really good experience last weekend. I ended up doing a church-like service project outside of the church with a community group. Painted a senior’s house with people from local corporations and other groups. There was a good feeling of community and at the end, one of the people who I didn’t know came up to me as I was leaving and said she enjoyed working with me and gave me a hug.

I left feeling motivated to be part of another event like this and wanting to actually help organize another one.

It highlights the fact that there are a lot of opportunities in the community, independent of any systemized, programmatic, CHI approaches to service and living a gospel-centered life.

I plan to do something like this again.

I used to be this way when I was in my late teens and early twenties, and the idea of being in the community and helping others this was part of my DNA. As I got more and more involved in church service, these kinds of events were more like hassles or drains on my time as I was so busy with meetings and administravia.

I felt that in setting limits/boundaries on my relationship with the church, I have found myself again in this small corner of my personality.