it's not about you!

as most of you know i volunteer with the college kids at my church, we meet weekly to have dinner, sing songs, and have some fantastic discussion, theological and non theological. last week we were talking about (among other things) mission trips. one of the people in the group said that he didn't really get anything out of mission trips because he didn't get to know people and didn't know that he was really doing anything that was helping them. now, our mission trips are much like our americoprs projects were like: you get an assignment, show up, do the work, get a tshirt and go home. you are plugging in to an organization that is there all the time. you are merely a servant. a conduit through which God is working to get things done (ha). now, to take this to heart and to really embody it is very humbling. it is truly understand that it's not about you. who you are is unimportant, that you have been called that place and are able to accomplish the task at hand, that is the important part. when i was doing my 60 mile breast cancer walk people would ask me why i was walking, and the answer was as simple as this: i was walking because i could. it was something i felt was important and it was something i could do that others couldn't do. i'm rambling. the point of all of this is that it's not always all about you. some things in your life should be: your wedding day, graduation, your birthday (well this should also be a bit about your parents, but mostly about you), any kind of performance, you know. but doing service work should not be about you! ideally you have some sort of sponsor or organization you are working with that does a little service learning, so you're not doing the work in a bubble, but come on! for some of us service is a weekend thing, or a one year thing, but for others of us it's a lifetime commitment, a lifetime calling of serving other people in various ways, and that work that we are called to do isn't about us. ask any teacher, preacher, counselor, doctor, parent (you get the idea!) and they will tell you, it's not about them, it's about helping other people. of course you are part of that equation, but you're not the most important part.

::exhales, steps off the soapbox and surveys the fields of crickets around her::

ok. i'm all done. happy sunday! hope you all enjoyed a lovely and restful weekend and are all geared up for the week ahead!
q