Unexpected Lessons in Giving: Cultivating a Spirit of Service and Joy

Have you ever considered that sometimes our greatest lessons come from unexpected places? Join me, Stephanie, as I recount a surprising Sunday at church that reshaped my understanding of serving and giving. 

Through my story, I invite you to explore the notion that service doesn't always mean being in the spotlight but contributing joyfully, even when plans shift unexpectedly. This revelation extends beyond the church walls, reminding us that having a servant's heart can significantly enhance our lives and those around us. 

Whether you're a regular churchgoer or seeking a faith community, I hope this episode inspires you to find simple yet meaningful ways to serve, tailored to fit your lifestyle, just as my role as a substitute volunteer does for me. 

Let's embrace the chance to uplift our communities and enrich life's journey with a focus on giving.

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Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:00

Hey friends, it's Stephanie here, and today I want to talk about a lesson I learned at church. Now, I don't know about you, but if you go to church, I'm always learning lessons from the pastor every Sunday sermon. For me it's expected. I hope I am learning, I am growing, but I had a lesson as it relates to serving and to giving. But I had a lesson as it relates to serving and to giving.

Speaker 0: 0:26

I encourage you that if you attend a church, that you're involved and you're finding a way to serve. You're not I don't want to say just showing up on Sunday, you know getting a sermon and leaving, but you know finding a way to serve. And what I have found in serving in a church, at least in our church, is a lot of times it's not a huge commitment. There's a lot of different things that you can do and some things are, you know, not a huge commitment. They may take an hour or two, a month or a week, and then others are much bigger commitment. But I just really encourage you to serve and serve in the church. And if you're not going to church, you know, I really encourage you to find a church home and take some time and go to churches that are in your community or maybe go back to one that you've just gotten away from. Anyways, that wasn't my message, what I was going to share today, but it was just on my heart. So I serve.

Speaker 0: 1:30

I am a sub on our church's coffee bar, so we have a little coffee bar and it's free for anybody that you know walks through our doors. They can come get coffee or hot tea. In the fall and winter months we have hot chocolate with the kiddos love, and I'm a sub, so I'm not even on the schedule. Just due to my travel schedule. It was hard for me to commit to say, oh yeah, I can be there every third Sunday of the month, so I'm a sub and if someone can't make it, I get a text and hey, can you come in and serve this day, which I love. I feel like it's a great way to help and it kind of it serves my schedule a little bit, because I don't like making commitments and then not being able to keep them, but it also is a great way for me to serve, and so, anyways, usually at coffee bar there's just two of us that are serving, and so and as busy as it is everybody you know, you're both kind of making the coffee, getting everything set up, and then, as church is getting ready to begin, you're filling people's coffee cups. You're interacting with people and that's my favorite part. I love interacting. I've gotten to know people at my church. It's like I love it.

Speaker 0: 2:52

Well, this Sunday when I showed up, there was somebody already there and I didn't think they were on the schedule, but it was great. I love working with this lady and we started to chat and she already had the coffee going and it was just like we were rocking and rolling. Well, then another lady showed up with her son to serve, and they were the two that I thought I was supposed to be serving with. And so now, instead of just two people, we had four people, which it doesn't take four people to work at our coffee bar. And so the mom and the son took the role of, you know, filling the cups and interacting with the people.

Speaker 0: 3:36

And I gotta admit, like in the beginning I was so disappointed. I was like, ah, and in my head I thought this is why I serve, like I love to come serve and interact and smile and tell people to have a great day and just be like one of those first touch points in our church. But as I was like standing back where you know, I mean I don't know how many pots of coffee but you're constantly like emptying filters, refilling coffee, you know that sort of thing is I don't want to say the busy work, but you know I can't even define what that is is then I was, it just hit me and it's just like sometimes we get to do what we want to do in serving and giving and sometimes we don't. And we should still be. The Bible says you know a cheerful giver and have a servant's heart. And whatever we do, we work for the Lord. And it was just a good reminder, in something that was so small of, like Stephanie, it's not that big of a deal, do this and do it well.

Speaker 0: 4:47

And so it was just like, okay, I went ahead and filled all the little coffee containers that we use that a lot of times we just let it run out because we don't have time to refill. And you know I was getting extra cups out and just I don't know, trying to do some little extra things that usually we don't have time to do. And then I had another. So you know me, we talk about giving your best life is, you know, giving gratitude, having one good goal, and obviously the foundation of your faith is God and your relationship that you're building with God. And so I had another opportunity at church.

Speaker 0: 5:28

So when you're serving, then you're usually late for the next service if you're going to stay for that service. But we do have places late for the next service if you're going to stay for that service. But we do have places outside to not outside outside, but like outside the sanctuary, where you can sit and watch the sermon. So I just decided to do that and when I got up there was an older gentleman who had been sitting behind me that I hadn't noticed and he just had a hat on that indicated that he had served in the Vietnam War. And so I just extended my hand and thanked him for his service. And, as always, every one of our servicemen and women are always very humble, you know. And but it was just a good reminder like to pay attention, to slow down and you know when. But it was just a good reminder. Like to pay attention, to slow down and you know when we see those opportunities to thank our men and women in service is we show them gratitude and it's a gift that we can give.

Speaker 0: 6:27

So not a long episode today. Maybe you're in a season of life where you're serving um, maybe you're volunteering somewhere and it doesn't look like what you thought it was going to look like, or even at work, um, maybe you're in a role that you're like, uh, I just am not enjoying this Um, and maybe look at it from a different perspective. Like I had two of serving coffee bar and you know I I still look at it from a different perspective. Like I had to of serving coffee bar, and you know I still look at it as the two of us that were kind of behind the scenes is it took, it took us also to be able to serve the people coffee that day and, you know, to brighten their day. So hopefully this gave you a little encouragement and just another way that you can get to giving your best life.