Creative ways to serve

Lent is a beautiful time to consider doing some kind of service.  If you are like me, though, it is hard to find ways to serve.  With family obligations, and little ones who you can't exactly take to a soup kitchen and let play while you make sandwiches, sometimes I feel at a loss for knowing how to serve.

When we first began attending my children's school, we had so many young ones that I couldn't get up to their classrooms very easily.  I found my niche writing things to help promote the school.  It was a great way to keep writing, and to help the school, but something was missing.  It was pretty lonely work.  I wanted to do something that built relationships.

Then, near the end of my oldest daughter's first-grade year, my Grandmother moved to Michigan from Florida.  We had always kept in touch, but her proximity encouraged me to call her more.  I could see her loneliness, and although it didn't happen immediately, I eventually began calling her several times a week.  Not for hour-long heart-to-hearts, but just to check in.  To see how she was doing.  To listen.  And to tell her I loved her.

It was so very simple.  But she said it made her day.  And I think it really did.

One day I realized that I had stumbled upon a ministry after all -- my very own telephone ministry.  There may not have been many ways I could get out and help others, but with one phone call, I could brighten someone's morning!

It sounds silly, and I kind of laughed at myself when I thought of it, but the fact remained that with very little disruption to my family, I was able to reach out to someone.  And my Grandma wasn't the only one who benefitted.  Those simple calls strengthened our relationship, and helped me feel like I could make an impact outside of the four walls of my home, even on some of my toughest days.  As an added bonus, when my Grandma invariably asked what she could do for me, I always had someone more than willing to pray for me and my family!

I know Lent is a time for prayer and reflection, and that the telephone can be a source of distraction from our families.  Although these days, the Internet is probably a far greater culprit of that.

But I have found that when the Holy Spirit puts it on my heart to reach out to someone through a simple phone call, or even a short email or Facebook message, the results can be more far-reaching than I imagine.  Just recently, I had someone share with me that I reached out to them at a particularly difficult time, and that it helped them in tremendous ways.  Before that talk, I had no idea I had said anything the woman would even remember.  This woman's words encouraged me to continue listening to the Holy Spirit in this way.  You never know what fruit your "telephone ministry" might bear!  If nothing else, I am certain you will find new friends.

May God continue to bless you as you seek to hear His voice this Lent!