Service
serv·ice / ˈsərvis/:
noun: The action of helping or doing work for someone.
This past weekend my church did an amazing thing. We coupled with the organization Children of the Nations and packaged 1,000,000 meals to be distributed abroad and locally to families in need. All day on Sunday volunteers manned various stations in shifts to bag rice, lentils, spices, etc…, while others sorted, loaded, boxed, labeled, and even wrote personal letters to the recipients of the meals. In addition to supporting the Children of the Nations campaign our efforts were added to the needs of a local food pantry to supply thousands upon thousands of canned and boxed food items to service our immediate community. It was amazing and incredible to witness all the people that flooded in to assist in this event, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to be apart of it. It has inspired me to take on a larger volunteer role next year and I’m looking forward to it.
So many times I forget the power of “Service”. In the midst of working, of managing a very busy family, and keeping pace with the oh-so-many plates I have spinning in the air at the moment, it is sometimes hard to imagine fitting one more thing in, let alone acts of service. This past weekend I was reminded that acting upon calls of service not only feeds the needs of a community, but also feeds the needs of my soul. And isn’t that what life is all about?
Appreciation Post – my friend Sioux and her amazing pottery skills
I’m starting a new post series on Appreciation. My friend Jill told Mark and I about a book that has changed her life called The Art of Appreciation by Peggy Halevi. I just ordered it, and in the spirit of this whole idea I want to take a moment to share a bit of Appreciation to someone who I feel very lucky to know.
This GORGEOUS vase was lovingly made by my talented friend Sioux. She is a teacher at the school I teach art at, and back in May she and her students gifted me as a thank you this vase that Sioux made. Though my photos above turned out pretty good they still don’t even come close to showing this vase’s true beauty. I can’t say enough how much I love and adore it, and now that it’s sitting on my table filled with van Gogh worthy sunflowers, it is even more spectactular!
What is wonderful about Sioux is how she understates her talent. If you try to compliment her, she humbly shrugs it off. She isn’t creating for the praises (though she gets them), she creates because it’s in her core to do so. She is driven by an unseeable force that finds its voice through clay and glaze. Sioux is authentic and real and it is a joy to watch how she not only inspires her students with the art of pottery making, but how she shares her gift with her friends and co-workers. Sioux is a pure craftswoman; throwing all her pottery by hand, experimenting with different glazes and techniques, and creating such personal and lovely end products that I know it must be hard for her to part with them. What a beautiful soul Sioux is, and I feel blessed to call her my friend.
(I’m not an affiliate for this book, I just wanted to share an Amazon link in case you’re interested)
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