keep showing up to the party.

So often I think we as humans like things because they are familiar...when the waiter to comes to your order and you're not sure what you want, you order the same thing you've always gotten. When you've been on a long trip and you finally reach your hometown, there's that feeling of relief that envelops you...a combination of these two feelings definitely surrounded me last Monday night at Forum when Jackie Hendrix from the Shoals Chamber of Commerce told us more about his volunteerism. (You may be wondering why, and that's because my dad works as Vice President of Business Development for the Chamber of Commerce in Jackson County..that's where I'm from, y'all ;)....) Because of this, I've spent most of my time helping Dad..or sometimes just observing him at work, so all of Mr. Hendrix's personal sentiments about questions people ask him absolutely hit home. The first: "Are you running for mayor?" Well, my dad did, and I spent four years of my childhood throwing candy in the homecoming parade because of it :) The second question: "How do you have time?" is one that I focused on intently. I think RARELY ever do we have time to do everything that we want to do. More often than not, a favorite excuse is, "I don't have time..." but what that really means is that you don't want to MAKE time for the obligation. I think that's why I have such a hard time saying no, but Mr. Hendrix admitted that he had the same issue. He also said that he thought, "If I don't do it, who will?" which is ALWAYS what I think about...if I don't do a job that I know I am capable of (and sometimes possess the talents to complete), who will cover for me in my absence?

So I'll leave that note by asking this question... What do YOU make time for?

Although I know the importance of Jackie Hendrix's job, it wasn't its description that moved me, but rather the other tidbits of information he shared with us. He simply stated that he "benefitted from being involved," but the way he explained it in debt included the relationships he had made through networking. All of that just keeps bringing me back to God's plan for my life. If I think that I have OCD tendencies, imagine God having to keep up with every single person's plan...all those to-do lists. Yikes.. Through Hendrix's service, one of the most powerful things anyone had shared with him was that he "changed the way [this] community thought about itself," and I think that ultimately describes my goal for not only myself but my job fulfillment. I want to be able to help someone (or groups of people) so much that I see not only a change in their lives for the better, but also a change in mine...to have more of a giving rather than an expecting spirit. Baby steps.

So maybe it's like Jackie said, I'll just "keep showing up to the party."