Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord you labor is not in vain. ~1Corinthians 15:58 (NRSV)
One time my son and I volunteered at a food drive for a local food pantry. I will admit I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. I knew we would be standing outside Wal-Mart for two hours collecting food donations. This was all I knew. After we were briefly trained I realized that this was going to put me far outside my comfort zones.
When my son realized that we would need to go up to, speak to and hand every single person we saw, a shopping list and verbally encourage them to participate in donating food, he panicked. “I can’t do that”, he exclaimed.” Let’s just go shop and give them some food instead.” I will have to quickly admit I had the same feeling. Going up and initiating conversations with strangers is not my favorite past time. Although I felt the same way as my son, I began to tell him that yes this was hard for us to do. It would be easier to go buy some groceries to donate than to stand there for two hours accosting people to donate food, but there was just so much food that he and I could donate. In the two hour time we were there asking people to donate we would be able to do more good than we could on our own.
While my son never developed the ability to go up and talk to people and inform them of our purpose that day, he did find that he was good at asking people when they came bringing food out to donate if they needed help unloading their items. Personally, I found that it got easier to go up to people the more I did it, especially if I did it with a smile. We saw many people that we had talked to just leave Wal-Mart without donating anything but the people who did donate were amazing. Some donated just a small bag others much much more. In the two hours we stood in the hot sun we saw at least 6 grocery carts fill up. The generosity of people will stick with me for a long time.
The amount of hungry people is staggering. The food bank that we volunteered with that day was not the only one in our county. Blount County Community Food Connections alone feed on average, 5,000 a month, several local churches have food pantries and Second Harvest serves as a distribution center offering donated and purchased food items to over 500 non-profit organizations in an 18 county service area.
It is easy to be overwhelmed with the needs of others. It is hard to listen to all the needs when they seem to be coming at us from all directions. There were a few people who just walked quickly by us during our two hours of service, not wanting to “hear” the needs. Yes, there is more than just one person can do. God doesn’t expect me to meet every need that I see, but there is enough needs in the world for each of us to do something. If I am steadfast in the work laid out before me, immoveable in the task I have been given, my labor will not be done in vain. Our bag of food combined with everyone’s bags that were donated added up to something beautiful. During the two days of that food drive we participated in, $16,00 in food and cash were collected.
Heavenly Father, help us to be aware of how we can give out of the abundance You have given us. Out of our thankfulness may we be quick to share with others so that Your grace and glory can be seen by all. Amen.
