A Writer in Progress: Road Full of Blessings

Last Sunday afternoon was unlike any other Sunday afternoon. Yes, the sun still shone, and the clouds still lined the sky in their majestic beauty. However, on this particular Sunday afternoon, I was blessed to go with the First United Methodist Church to Fort Worth to feed and help clothe the homeless. It's a program at their church called "taking it to the streets". To the streets did we go. We set up tables in the grass, full of clothes, organized by size and gender. Anyone was allowed to come through our piles and search for what he or she needed. We also had a separate line so the people could receive a hot meal.

(tables full of volunteers helping)

Seeing everyone here broke (but opened) my heart, and it had me thinking. There's a song called In Need by Ross king and the last line says "I am your child, I am in Need". We see these people on the streets, needing clothes and food, and it's very clear to see what their needs are. However, we are all in need of something. And we are all children of God. Whether it be needing prayers, love, or a lot more Jesus in our hearts, there's always something. Although we are in need of something, we need to be willing to be a servant of God because it's what we're called to do as His child. It may not always be pretty or pleasant (ergo my sunburn), but working selflessly for others is what having a heart for others and a heart full of Jesus is all about! I aspire to be someone who has a heart full of Jesus and a person who shows love to everyone around them all of the time. (sadly, I fail daily) Sunday afternoon, my heart was full of compassion for the people surrounding me, even though they were complete strangers. It's a hard feeling to describe, but pure joy and love coursed through my veins.

On top of that, I realized that we are extremely blessed. We're blessed to serve a God who gives us a heart to serve others. We're blessed with people who set up these pop-up meals and pop-up clothing lines for the sole purpose of helping someone else. I feel as though I'm extremely blessed with a house, and a bed to sleep in every single night. There's food on my table and I have two parents who love me a lot. With all of these blessings, how can you not want to share part of your time with people who don't have as many as we do?

Talking to the people we were serving was really interesting. Society views these people on the streets as "objects" or "lazy people who don't have it together". However, that's not the case at all. I got to talk to some of the people there, and they're all full of life. Each one has a story, an opinion, and something to say. They also have jobs, or apply for jobs, and go to interviews. Maybe not all of them, but most of them.

We went around, asking to take their pictures, and the first few declined, leaving us a little deflated. However, as the afternoon went on, more and more people saw what we were doing and happily wanted to be a model for us. I don't feel as though many typical people prefer getting up close and personal with the people who need it the most. However, why not? We're all children of God and we're called to serve. I don't know if that many people out there realized who Jesus is, but I hope they saw him shine through all of us for those few hours.