loving to serve

It took me a week to get pillowcases back on our pillows after doing laundry.  A week.  By which point the sheets need to be washed again, but they're going to wait.  Just like the pillows.  Because other things need me right now.

Over the past few weeks, I have been struck by the cumbersome restrictions upon my social life from being an introvert.  My energy stores only get me so far, limiting the length and breadth of interactions.  I don't network as easily because of it, nor am I able to meet new friends and get out into my community.  I have been craving these interactions, however.  Desperately.  A chance to get involved, to serve, to reach out and get beyond my introverted limitations.

I would love to say that in two weeks I've started a non-profit, am hosting a perfectly curated dinner party, and have found my inner social butterfly.  But I haven't, and probably won't.  No, I have found that my Heavenly Father has reached out to me as His introverted daughter and given me ways to serve.  I am learning to love and feel deeply through the afflictions of those I love deeply, just as I am learning that a pillow without a case is not nearly as important as following promptings to reach out. 

Katie Bower, a fellow Georgian, wrote a fabulous blog post last week.  She discusses her worth as she knows it versus how social media, especially the pinterest/blog community, would define it.  Katie says, 

"But you know what?  I know the truth.  Even with all those outside influences.  Even with all that inside stuff.  Deep deep down, I know I am enough.  I am enough because I can do one little thing.  And that one little thing, the only thing that really matters, the thing that is so lacking in our busy busy world and our social media frenzies is this….

I am enough because I can love others."

I am enough because I can love others.  How true those words are!  How grateful I am that I have been given opportunities to serve and love those in my life!  Love, my friends, really is the answer.  Real love.  Not even romantic.  Just, love.  Where you care deeply about others, whether in your community or your home.  I'm learning to love again, more sincerely.  It feels like the right way to kick off the fall season, a time traditionally noted as a period of thanksgiving.  I am so grateful, with a heart so full it could burst, for tender mercies and the loving trust of a kindly Father that I can grow and change.  And love.

So no promise about clean sheets in the next few days, but I can absolutely guarantee hugs, maybe some tears, and plenty of good that will be done along the way.