Serving with different gifts


I received a donation from family and a friend, to help with the refugees. We don’t have a lot of wiggle room money these days for unforeseen large expenses , so we accepted their generosity. A burden of grace. The oil belonging to the widow in sarepta. 

Being available to serve, to pick up and deliver stuff costs more than time. Gas prices jumped 50 bani each day for a week. It felt daunting. 

But generosity is contagious. You see people pull their sleeves up and you just can’t sit on the sidelines. Forgetting ourselves and serving others is the best therapy for depression, for apathy, and hopelessness. 

One day a girl who was hosted at the church I was serving was asking for a toothbrush. A toothbrush. I remember traveling. Even if I hadn’t showered in days. If my teeth were freshly brushed I felt clean, energized. The closest store was far away. So next time I Brought a bag of toiletries items and delivered them there. I’m sure they will come in handy. 

Today the schedule changed a few times. I signed up to serve a warm lunch. The people hosted were a large group of 23people, old, young, with babies or adolescents. beautiful in their eyes and expressed gratitude. The soup was devoured. Oh, I love when people eat what they are served. It’s like they accept your love, and we both are enriched, on the served and the serving side. More good was brought on and they joyfully accepted and ate as well. I was with one woman, side by side, making sandwiches for the road, and she was on top of it, having served them breakfast too. What a blessing to serve side by side with others. It’s my favorite type of getting more familiar with people. 

We made 50 sandwiches 🥪along with bags of treats, sweets, juices and water for the road. On the way to serve lunch my friend asked if I could stop by at the pharmacy to pick up medicine: for carsickness for adults and kids, and a few other for the digestion system. When traveling hundreds of miles, stressed, traumatized, worried, from cold to hot all of a sudden, our bodies react.  

It was a mad rush of feeding many and getting them ready for the road. Then the man who serves there daily, came in to eat lunch (for the first time, since I serve lunch at church, he finally made time to eat while I was still there). He complimented how good the food looked and the service. He exuded kindness and pleasantness though he is pulled in all directions daily. What a testament to the spirit that dwells in him. 

I left encouraged, hopeful, prayerful. Every sandwich I would wrap I’d say a blessing, for the person who will eat it. It is an honor to be included and involved. May god bless them and guide them, and may these short encounters be a soothing memory over time for all of us.