I Kid You Not: Many Are Digging This Thing!
My late aunt was known for a couple things: One was the irresistible cornmeal pottage with a hint of lemon that drew her nephews and nieces like flies to her home each morning when school was out. The other was her ability to create “unending” work for us once our bellies were full.
I feel ashamed today that my aunt had to bribe us with food to work for her, considering that she was a single woman stricken with rheumatoid arthritis. I feel ashamed that we only worked for her because of the promise of a meal cooked by hands that could hardly hold a cooking stick. I feel most ashamed today that I not only listened, but actively contributed to conversations that suggested that she was mean and therefore deserved the arthritis.
Yes…as a child I was as mean as my worst cousins. But Auntie D never gave up on us…she continued cooking the pottage and putting us to work. We ate the food and worked…..until something curious started happening to a few of us: we began to love the work!
I am sure many of the agencies serving the poor in Charlotte have had their version of the Auntie D principle. Lately however, an incredible thing has started happening in our community. A growing number of people are making it clear they do not need a bribe to serve others. While I do not believe the “bribe’ should be completely retired yet for the sake of those who need a little bit of encouragement, I believe as a community we have turned a corner.
Why have we turned the corner? In one word: leadership. It is because of people like David Chadwick, the senior pastor of Forest Hill Church and his team who for many years have insisted that serving others must be a core value of community. It is because of people like Laurie Little at Matthews United Methodist Church, the leader of a youth ministry that in one weekend last month did 115 service projects in the inner city and with organizations serving the poor.
Every day I meet more people who are digging this thing, people who love to serve and who are actively looking for opportunities to invest in the lives of those who are less fortunate. They are professionals in the corporate world, housewives, men and women, young and old, black, white, Asian, Latino, African, rich and poor, and they all have one thing in common: they have fallen in love with serving.
What can we do in Charlotte with this army, these people who are not lovers of self but who seek to please God by serving others? Hmmm. Why don’t we start by eliminating child homelessness in our city? Once that is done, like Aunt D’s nephew that I am, I am sure I can help find something else to put all of us to work!!
I feel ashamed today that my aunt had to bribe us with food to work for her, considering that she was a single woman stricken with rheumatoid arthritis. I feel ashamed that we only worked for her because of the promise of a meal cooked by hands that could hardly hold a cooking stick. I feel most ashamed today that I not only listened, but actively contributed to conversations that suggested that she was mean and therefore deserved the arthritis.
Yes…as a child I was as mean as my worst cousins. But Auntie D never gave up on us…she continued cooking the pottage and putting us to work. We ate the food and worked…..until something curious started happening to a few of us: we began to love the work!
I am sure many of the agencies serving the poor in Charlotte have had their version of the Auntie D principle. Lately however, an incredible thing has started happening in our community. A growing number of people are making it clear they do not need a bribe to serve others. While I do not believe the “bribe’ should be completely retired yet for the sake of those who need a little bit of encouragement, I believe as a community we have turned a corner.
Why have we turned the corner? In one word: leadership. It is because of people like David Chadwick, the senior pastor of Forest Hill Church and his team who for many years have insisted that serving others must be a core value of community. It is because of people like Laurie Little at Matthews United Methodist Church, the leader of a youth ministry that in one weekend last month did 115 service projects in the inner city and with organizations serving the poor.
Every day I meet more people who are digging this thing, people who love to serve and who are actively looking for opportunities to invest in the lives of those who are less fortunate. They are professionals in the corporate world, housewives, men and women, young and old, black, white, Asian, Latino, African, rich and poor, and they all have one thing in common: they have fallen in love with serving.
What can we do in Charlotte with this army, these people who are not lovers of self but who seek to please God by serving others? Hmmm. Why don’t we start by eliminating child homelessness in our city? Once that is done, like Aunt D’s nephew that I am, I am sure I can help find something else to put all of us to work!!
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