I opened an account with "Hands On Nashville," a website and organization that coordinates volunteer efforts for many benevolent endeavors citywide, with the idea that my kids would benefit from learning to help others and get some good real-world work experience, too.Teens and adults can log-in to sign up for a variety of activities ranging from cooking a dish for a shelter to helping with clean-up of trails at a local lake, which my oldest son and I did a couple of months ago.
Today, both of my late-night-video-game warriors slept in while I tested the waters at a large thrift store, sorting clothes for three hours. Not sure how well they will do determining if something is baby or young girl clothing, whether a woman's blouse should go to the recycle bin or the keeper stack, but I plan on taking them one Saturday in the future.
I am exhausted! Maybe the person who needs "real world" work experience is me! I took a long nap and now I am rooted to the deck with my coffee. Middle age is not for the faint of heart and, I am told, old age is definitely not for sissies.
If they add enough meaningful activities to their schedules or, as in the case of my oldest child, they get a part-time job this summer, I will allow them to decide whether or not they will continue to volunteer. We are looking for a new church. When we find one, it's possible I will let them center any volunteer work on what we are doing there. In the mean time, we will keep scouring the site, hoping for assignments everyone can agree on.
It occurs to me that the world around us is a veritable ocean of need. Sometimes, however, those needs are less obvious than food and clothing. My world is particularly cushy...I live in a pristine subdivision and my kids go to excellent public schools. I do not work and shop at stores where, as has happened to me in recent years, you can leave your wallet in the grocery buggy and someone turns it in, intact.
My assignment for now is wife and mother. I pray that, as I go about my duties in this capacity, I am open to the ways in which I can be Christ's hands and feet to those in need. If this means a smile for the discouraged or a hug for the heartbroken, may I not find such tasks too humbling to embrace. May I be content where I have been placed.
Today, both of my late-night-video-game warriors slept in while I tested the waters at a large thrift store, sorting clothes for three hours. Not sure how well they will do determining if something is baby or young girl clothing, whether a woman's blouse should go to the recycle bin or the keeper stack, but I plan on taking them one Saturday in the future.
I am exhausted! Maybe the person who needs "real world" work experience is me! I took a long nap and now I am rooted to the deck with my coffee. Middle age is not for the faint of heart and, I am told, old age is definitely not for sissies.
If they add enough meaningful activities to their schedules or, as in the case of my oldest child, they get a part-time job this summer, I will allow them to decide whether or not they will continue to volunteer. We are looking for a new church. When we find one, it's possible I will let them center any volunteer work on what we are doing there. In the mean time, we will keep scouring the site, hoping for assignments everyone can agree on.
It occurs to me that the world around us is a veritable ocean of need. Sometimes, however, those needs are less obvious than food and clothing. My world is particularly cushy...I live in a pristine subdivision and my kids go to excellent public schools. I do not work and shop at stores where, as has happened to me in recent years, you can leave your wallet in the grocery buggy and someone turns it in, intact.
My assignment for now is wife and mother. I pray that, as I go about my duties in this capacity, I am open to the ways in which I can be Christ's hands and feet to those in need. If this means a smile for the discouraged or a hug for the heartbroken, may I not find such tasks too humbling to embrace. May I be content where I have been placed.
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