Serving for an Audience of One

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men." Ephesians 6:7
I've gone to SEARCH (Service of the Emergency Aid Resource Center for the Homeless) a lot this summer. It's not always my favorite site to go to, but lately, it sure has taught me about what true service looks like.
When I went on my first CSM trip to Washington DC in February, I remember thinking the same thing about DC Central Kitchen. While I was cutting loaf of bread after loaf of bread, I remember getting bored and wanting to do something else. Then, Mo, a DC Spring Host, and I started talking about service and what truly serving the Lord means. It hit me that serving the Lord is not about being thanked or people thinking that I'm serving well. I had always had this thought as head knowledge, but it had never transferred to my heart. That cold February morning in the DC Central Kitchen basement, it finally transferred to heart knowledge. I was serving only one thing and that was my God.
SEARCH continues to teach me about serving wholeheartedly for an audience of one. Lately, my groups and I have been washing walls and windows. I tell you every window and wall, inside and out, in that 4 story building is as clean as it will ever be. While I still don't exactly look forward to washing walls and windows (I'm not sure I ever will), I now sing and dance while I'm doing so because I know I'm not washing for nothing, I'm washing because He first washed me and my sins away. Now, every time I squirt that Windex bottle and wipe a window, I view it as just a way I can show the Lord that I am so thankful for Him not just cleaning a part of me, but all of me.
Lord, thank you for continuing to teach me what true service is and for places like DC Central Kitchen and SEARCH that you use as avenues of learning.
-Crystal, CSM Houston Summer 2010 City Host

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