Give A Little

I've been catching up on Glee for the past couple of days. I love it. It's got some fantastic one liners that just kill me. It's so funny and so clever. Plus, there's singing. I love that. 

Today, I watched the 3rd season episode about Christmas. It was your typical Christmas episode where they forget for a moment what Christmas is really about, but then they are reminded and do some great gesture of service to show what they have learned. 

It reminded me of something that I have forgotten: My love of service. 

I have had a lot of great opportunities to serve and I want to talk about what it means to me. :)

I'm not sure where this love of service came from, but all of a sudden, I wanted to give everything that I had to anyone who needed it. I applied to be a member of a service club and I got in. We taught 6th graders 5 steps to refuse peer pressure situations and we did all kinds of other service around our city and our school. 

This picture was taken at the end of my junior year with all the next year's members of the team. PLT was the only place I ever felt like I belonged while I was in high school. I wasn't...cool or popular, but I fit in here. At least a little bit.  

[photo cred: Sarah]

That summer, I applied to go on a service trip to Mexico.  When I asked my parents if I could go, I expected them to say no. Not because they have something against service in another country, but things like that cost money.  I ended up being able to go and I had an amazing experience.

I met new people, learned how to communicate with a gigantic language barrier, I dug ditches with my bare hands (and with shovels...very dull shovels), helped clean up the school, learned about a completely different culture and I really came to understand what it was to have nothing and still have everything. 

And...I joined an all volunteer military. Twice! I love service and I will continue to do it all my life. 

This year, I'm going to donate as much as I can to the Food Bank through a food drive at work, give to Toys For Tots, and take every opportunity for service that is presented to me. 

With all this being said, I want to challenge you this holiday season. Lend a helping hand. Donate to the Salvation Army bell ringers. It take two second to drop a few coins in there, and every cent can help. Go to the soup kitchen and serve food some Sunday morning. Shovel your neighbors driveway just because it's a nice thing to do.  Take a step back and look around. Find a way to help if you have the ability to. Something that is a small blip in your life might mean the world to someone else. Service. Give it try.