WE NEEDED A WAY TO TEACH OUR KIDS HOW TO SERVE. About a month ago our small group at church was approached to take over a night of preparing dinner for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in our city. We agreed to take the once a month “duty” as our new project since it was our desire to show the children in our group about service to others. Dave and I took our three down to learn how the routine would need to run and gain as much knowledge as possible from the group of families who had successfully served for years on this same night. We expected to be humbled by the experience, but instead I can honestly say that we were given the gift of seeing each man’s open heart warm each of us through their conversations and expressions of hope.

Instead of having the 50 or so men wait in line, we had enough hands to serve them at the tables. It amazed me how that one simple act of presenting the plate to them would cheer them after their day of work or therapy. One by one my kids took the plates to them and it was great to see Jordan, William, and Grace handle this with ease. Grace cracked me up each time she said, “There is more gravy if you want it on the service counter.” She sounded just like a little southern waitress.

We couldn’t wait to tell the other families about our experience and now we can’t wait to take our first official night in March. It’s infectious! The families who were teaching us almost cried as they left that night. They said that seeing our family there brought back so many memories of how their children helped through the years. Most of them are empty nesters with grandchildren now. They loved knowing that feeding those men’s hunger with kindness also meant that they were feeding their souls. Knowing how much they loved the ministry made me realize that fitting some shopping and cooking into our schedule was nothing compared to what we would be learning from those men in recovery.

Nate St. Pierre, Lauren Lankford, and J. Money from ItAllStartsWith.Us and Love Drop in a photo by The Outdoor Wife..

 

I know I have spoken about the BlissDom conference I attended at the end of January. While there I heard Nate St. Pierre from ItAllStartsWith.Us and Lauren Lankford from Love Bomb speak about the service they were trying to encourage in others. I think you’ll want to read more about their organizations and will be inspired to help. The amazing thing is what a difference can be made in just a few minutes.

Through Love Bomb lives are changed by one message at a time. Over 2,000 team members, come together once a week to leave messages of love, hope and inspiration for one person in need. We did one assignment live at the conference. We were given a blog url of a young woman who had just lost a good friend in a tragedy and she simply needed some encouragement to carry on after this loss. Can you imagine what happened when she saw her email comments start filling up with messages of love from pure strangers? The great thing is that you can also suggest people who might need encouragement.

With It Starts With Us the idea is to change the world in 15 minutes a week. Once you sign up on their site you will be sent the week’s assignment which varies, but is usually an act of random kindness. Currently over 4,000 team members, participating together in one 15-minute mission per week to make a difference for others.

Though Love Drop you are funding special missions to help those who have been through a recent bout of hard times or difficulties. Spend a dollar, change a life is their motto. Over 100 members each contribute monthly financial support to change the life of one person or family in need. The most recent project involved a family with autistic children who needed a service dog.

I like these organizations because you can begin to get into the habit of giving to others and yet the commitment moneywise is negligible or non-existent. Any age can participate and I can see this appealing to teenagers and others who are unable to give in other events. Amazingly, the effect of these projects could bring hope to each of those affected and they are more likely to pay it forward themselves. I think we can all agree that could truly change the world.

Let me know if you participate in dropping a Love Bomb or other service. I’m really getting excited about involving our families in service this year.