Community Service to the Nth Degree
I wasn’t aware when it was occurring, but it seems I was raised to think serving others is an important thing to do. Perhaps by osmosis, as I saw my mom be the Boy Scout leader or my dad help neighborhood kids work on their cars, I recognized serving others is important.
So as a fairly new member in my church, I was looking for a place to help out. The morning bulletins showed several needs in the church such as child care, building maintenance and hospitality committee. I decided to serve through the Audio/Video Team; it looked easy enough to click through the words that keep us all singing the right songs. Well, I guess I should have researched a little better before I signed up. This role needs to be present for the Wednesday night choir practice, prepping the slides before hand and also be present an hour and a half before church to run through everything again. So hearing me grumble about how this community service is asking more of me than I thought would be required, imagine my embarrassment and humiliation when I heard of a friend’s commitment to serve others.
Debbie has been on a bone marrow registry for about six years from a registry drive for a local attorney. Short story is that she has gone through the testing and is a match for a 14-year-old girl with leukemia. The harvest is set for July 9th. So as I’m grumbling about the two hours extra a week that I’ve committed to – Debbie is giving up several vacation days, expecting a few days of stiffness, undergoing full anesthesia for the procedure and donating a life giving piece of herself. Hmmph, makes my AV service feel a bit trivial. She always has been the over achiever.
So join with me as we pray for the bone marrow recipient, the doctors involved and Debbie that all goes well and it is a life saving success for the recipient.
Now, my message is not that you need to be a hero and the only service that counts is the big stuff. That is not true. You need to serve where you are and however you can. All service is important. My message is to serve joyfully, be thankful that you CAN serve and also recognize there are times when you may receive the services and to do that joyfully also.
For more info about bone marrow donation go to www.bethematch.org
Jan and Debbie
What an inspiring story…I am grateful to someone who gave my cousin the breath of life this year through a double lung transplant. I grieve for that family who lost their child but who made the decision to donate organs. Please let us know how your friend does after surgery and how the girl’s recovery progreses!