On 11/11/11 my small group from Vocation of Ministry spent our afternoon volunteering.
This simple assignment became very symbolic for our group. As we would go through her items, she would contemplate whether to hold on to, donate or trash the item. Everything seemed to be of sentimental value to her, but over the course of time, we watched as she experienced growth. It became much easier for her to send things to the trash or Goodwill pile. She realized that for all this time most of these items haven’t been used and most likely won’t be used, so she needed to let them go.
So often in life we want to hold on to things – things we haven’t used in years, things we’ve already grown from. There comes a point in life when we must let go and surrender. We must allow the darkness to become purged from our lives. At first it will hurt and we won’t realize the good that will come from it. But after we’ve made a practice of letting go and coming closer in relation to God, it will be much easier for us to surrender. And at the end we will feel accomplished.
After arriving to the home of Dr. Leslie Andrews, our group was immediately humbled. Dr. Andrews mentioned many times how she couldn’t believe that our group would come help her. She was embarrassed by the state of her garage when it only needed a bit of organization.
Each of us were able to use our organization skills to clear the items in Leslie’s one car garage into the two car garage for sorting, purging, donating and placement.
To see the joy on her and her mom’s face once the one car garage was completely organized, not only brought us joy but a sense of accomplishment. We received our own fulfillment by reaching out to Leslie and her mom.
This simple assignment became very symbolic for our group. As we would go through her items, she would contemplate whether to hold on to, donate or trash the item. Everything seemed to be of sentimental value to her, but over the course of time, we watched as she experienced growth. It became much easier for her to send things to the trash or Goodwill pile. She realized that for all this time most of these items haven’t been used and most likely won’t be used, so she needed to let them go.
So often in life we want to hold on to things – things we haven’t used in years, things we’ve already grown from. There comes a point in life when we must let go and surrender. We must allow the darkness to become purged from our lives. At first it will hurt and we won’t realize the good that will come from it. But after we’ve made a practice of letting go and coming closer in relation to God, it will be much easier for us to surrender. And at the end we will feel accomplished.
As we are about Kingdom-building, it is important for us to live a life of holiness. As we live in holiness, we walk in the light. That light of Christ will overcome the darkness we used to live in. When we are walking in light, others will be drawn to Christ. Dr. Andrews not only let go of unused items, she experienced a sort of freedom in her personal life that she hasn’t seen in years.
(Dr. Andrews, 2nd from left)
