Value

Last Tuesday Wondergirl and I worked with a team of wonderful ladies who form an outreach team for our church. We go where needed to help other ladies with a variety of things around the home. The needs vary from cleaning to painting to light repair work. Last week we helped a wonderful lady who was just feeling a bit overwhelmed by the first spring without her husband who passed on last fall. Talk about a joy. Mrs. J was an absolute delight! That was so much fun.

Tomorrow we help another team paint a kitchen. I cannot tell you how much this thrills us. First of all, we are working with some of the most wonderful women you could ever want to meet. Second, it is a joy to have WonderGirl with me. She has such a heart of service, and it shows. I really enjoy her, and I cannot tell you how much it blesses me that others enjoy her, too. She is just completely precious. Third, we love this stuff! I know it sounds weird, but we love hanging with others and loving on folk. Does life get better than that?

Tomorrow is also very thrilling for me because we are using it as a "pilot program". Sarah, the director, and I are praying that the Lord uses this outreach to help bring families together. We are hoping to develop an outreach team of moms and children.

Today I had a chance to talk to Sarah, and she asked me what my vision for this group is. I shared my heart as I could articulate it at the moment. In short, my desire is to help families learn to work as a unit and not cohabitate as a bunch of individuals. Simple enough.

On a larger scale, though, I want to see healing in families on a group as well as individual level. I find it sad and disturbing that so many people in this world do not know the simple concept of value. It is my heart for each person to realize God created each of them with more value than we can imagine. As individuals, we are invaluable, and society is good at capitalizing on the idea that we each have a call and each have gifts. Too often we become so caught up in our individual value that we miss the joy of our value within the groups of those who love us, those with whom we share our lives. We become so focused on our individual jobs, responsibilities, and goals that we forget that we are also put within our families because God has a plan not only to raise godly offspring but to bless and impact this world with our families as a whole.

God looked at Adam and said it wasn't good for man to be alone. Adam needed a helper. He needed to be part of something larger than himself and what he was able to do. That has not changed. We all need helpers, and we all need to be a helper. The family is the perfect place for that to happen, but it will only happen when we realize the value of those involved and act in accordance with that truth.

I think if I could give people anything in the world, save salvation of course, it would be the knowledge of how valuable they are and how much value they are able to speak into others' lives.

Prayerfully, our outreach group will demonstrate our value of people, not just the owners of the home where we work but the value of those working as well....