Joy-filled Service

There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

Snuggled into my favorite chair, I lingered over each page in my newly arrived seed catalog. Of the six or seven catalogs I receive each winter, this is my favorite because tucked between unusual and hard-to-source seed varieties are short anecdotes about the seeds—the history of a tomato variety almost lost to time except for an Appalachian family who’d saved the seeds year after year for six generations, or the effort it took to source a new-to-me melon from the northern China countryside.

One of my great joys in the depths of winter is starting seedlings. For months, I hover over flats of tiny seedlings tucked under artificial lights, eyeballing germination rates and seedling health. It never fails that my eyes are too big for my proverbial stomach—meaning that I end up with far more plants than I could reasonably hope to put into my urban garden.

Several years ago, my overexuberance resulted in a beautiful partnership with a community garden catering specifically to refugee families. I now intentionally grow far more than I can use and donate the surplus to families who don’t have the tools or skills necessary to nurse seedlings for twelve or more weeks under grow lights. I am grateful that a hobby that brings me joy is now also a tool for serving others.

You don’t have to be a gardener or live in an area of the country with a sizeable refugee population to have a similar impact. We serve the same God—and the people he pursues—with our unique qualifications and skill sets.

I know women who quilt blankets for children entering the foster care system so they have something comforting and bright in the midst of upheaval. One of my friends cooks and freezes meals to gift to new moms. I know men who use their ability to build or tinker to bless someone who cannot. Often there is a way to use the hobbies and skills we love to serve God and others.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Consider how you might use a skill or hobby you enjoy in service to God and those around you. Prayerfully ask God to connect your interests to an existing need.