This morning myself and several others participated in a community outreach event called Care & Clean. The purpose behind this outreach was to join together as the church to help the city of Chillicothe with a few projects it couldn't afford to complete on its own. For example, painting benches throughout the downtown area and in the parks, picking up debris and trash in the alleyways, and painting over graffiti throughout the city.
In the three short hours that our small group spent in the city, I realized a couple of things. First, small things done with great love really can change the world. Ok, we might not have changed the world, but we changed our small part of the world. Our group cleaned the alleys, removed debris from University Drive, and painted over some graffiti on a family's garage. Our efforts made an impact, and the people we came into contact with today noticed.
Second, it's easier to "talk the talk" than "walk the walk." For myself, it was hard to get out of bed this morning. I've been battling health issues and really didn't feel like getting up this morning. Despite my selfish desires to stay in bed, I got out of bed and went to work. You're probably thinking to yourself, "you love doing this kinda stuff....I'm sure it wasn't that hard for you." But really it was. I waited til the very last possible minute to get out of bed to go. In the end, however, I'm SO glad that my selfish nature didn't win the battle because it was so much fun working together to clean the city!
Finally, our job as the church isn't finished in this community. There's a lot of work yet to do in Chillicothe, physically and otherwise. My hope that this summer the church of Chillicothe will rise up and work together to make a change in our city!
What small things are you doing with great love to change your world?
In the three short hours that our small group spent in the city, I realized a couple of things. First, small things done with great love really can change the world. Ok, we might not have changed the world, but we changed our small part of the world. Our group cleaned the alleys, removed debris from University Drive, and painted over some graffiti on a family's garage. Our efforts made an impact, and the people we came into contact with today noticed.
Second, it's easier to "talk the talk" than "walk the walk." For myself, it was hard to get out of bed this morning. I've been battling health issues and really didn't feel like getting up this morning. Despite my selfish desires to stay in bed, I got out of bed and went to work. You're probably thinking to yourself, "you love doing this kinda stuff....I'm sure it wasn't that hard for you." But really it was. I waited til the very last possible minute to get out of bed to go. In the end, however, I'm SO glad that my selfish nature didn't win the battle because it was so much fun working together to clean the city!
Finally, our job as the church isn't finished in this community. There's a lot of work yet to do in Chillicothe, physically and otherwise. My hope that this summer the church of Chillicothe will rise up and work together to make a change in our city!
What small things are you doing with great love to change your world?
3 comments:
Wow- great job! Sometimes it really is hard to overcome those roadblocks. Sounds like you did the community a lot of good. What am I doing... hhmmm not too much I guess. Sponsoring my nephew to go on a missions trip to Honduras, and teaching my kids to start telling God thank you for the good things in the day when they start complaining.
That's great that you're sponsoring your nephew to go to Honduras! My passion for outreach began when I took my first mission trip to India as a 15 year old. Prayerfully he'll have a wonderful, life-changing experience while he's there.
LOVE that you tell your kids to be thankful! I don't have kids (yet) but there's so much to be thankful for that we take for granted most of the time.
Sounds like you're doing a lot to change your little piece of the world, Kim! :)
This is so well worded. People often don't understand they don't need someone else to make a difference they can, with one small step. Then perhaps you get someone else to help with step 2, and pretty soon a little here, and a little there join together and much can and is accomplished each and everyday.
I say this often on my blog, one hat, one scarf, made with love one stitch at a time does make a difference.
What a great group you're involved with. Keep up the good work.
Sandy
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