Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Having Heart

Hello, my wonderful readers, I'm doing better this time, it's only been 8 months since my last post...
You should all thank InterNations ( the expat website that carries my other blog from Canada, for prompting me to check in, except I'm checking in with you instead!)

Today when I was looking for items to post on our PTO website that were inspirational I found this gem and it spoke to me.... "Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart." This season in my life is so, EVERYTHING.  It's good, it's bad, it's crazy, it is hard, it is full of high and lows, more than any other up to this point.  I'm in this place where the days run into one another at breakneck speed and my list is so much longer than anyone could ever possibly do, EVER.


My commitments are weighing on me and I look around and I see 100 other people in the exact same place as me and I think "why are we doing this to ourselves?"  We are stretched to the point of breaking, but when someone asks "could you, please?"  I find myself having an out of body experience as I hear myself and the rest of us that are breaking our own backs, responding with a resounding "Yes, I can!".  I will always answer the same way.  When the world is ending, I will still say "yes."  Why you ask?  Because inside me and so many of my fellow man, lives the soul of one who was placed here, in this moment, in this season, in this life, to be of service to others.  There are so many who say no, but we just CANNOT.  It is not in us.  We will find a way, rally the troops and march on to victory, whatever the task may be.  And, we my friends, we are quietly, slowly and systematically changing the world.  To do something solely for the benefit of others restores faith in humanity, eases someone else's load, brightens someone's  day,  helps save the planet or a life, with an act, that alone, often, is really so very small.

Volunteerism is the song in my soul that I wish more would sing!  I spend hours every day trying to find people to fill the rosters of committees who need people to be passionate, excited and involved...they are sadly, so very hard to find, because like me, their season is overwhelming and consuming.  What they do not know, or perhaps have forgotten, is how much you GET BACK when you give of yourself!  Yes, we are tired, yes, we get frustrated and then someone looks at you and says  "THANK YOU". And we are restored and revitalized.   All it takes is that simple act of kind acknowledgement and appreciation to fill up those empty spaces inside of you.  Knowing that you have put a smile on the face of another is rewarding!  Being a volunteer in many capacities and roles throughout my life has gifted me with a love of community, bright and beautiful friends, a sense of personal satisfaction.  It teaches my children that we all have a social responsibility to try and leave the world better than we found it and to give freely of themselves, even when it's hard.  I love my season for all of it's insanity.

So, I will do my small things and maybe some big ones and I will sing my song and hope that it can be sung by more and that soon the world will be full of "Yes, I can!". My heart is full.

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