I would like to know when developing the ability to say "no" became a Christian Virtue. I am pretty sure I remember a selfless Christ who told us to let people hit us on both sides of the face. And when our coats are stolen we are supposed to give that mean guy our shirts too. And then, while we were yet sinners, He died for us.
But nobody wants to sit in the nursery with my very cute baby? Because they are learning how to say no? And they are really proud of their achievement? Yay! Celebrate! Today I became less like Christ!
And then sometimes I say "Whoooo-wee! I'm exhausted! Why do I keep volunteering for [fill in the blank]?" and they say "because you don't know how to say no.
Eh? I thought it was because I like to serve and I like to grow and I like to be challenged and I actually like preschool age children.
What I am getting at really is: when I say "Whoooo-wee! I'm exhausted! Why do I keep volunteering for [fill in the blank]?" maybe somebody could respond, "because you are getting more like Christ."
And when I say: "Hey, would you be willing to volunteer for nursery twice a month this summer?" somebody could say, "I'd love to!"
[while the concept of volunteerism is pretty nutty to the average churchgoer, I promise some real tin-foil-hat nutterness in future posts. Oh, yes. Tin-foil-hat nutty"]
5 comments:
I couldn't agree more. People are so busy these days worrying about themselves, they forget about others.
Volunteering has gone from being something people do to help others out of love to something people see as a burden on their time and another thing to complain about. 'Oh, I had to volunteer for xyz...'is the phrase a lot of people use these days - they 'had' (ie were forced) to volunteer for something against their will - they're doing it because someone else is making them or because they need to do it for their own personal/career gain.
I personally volunteer because I love to help other people in any way I can to share the love of Christ. If people are not prepared to volunteer for a cause they are supposed to care about, such as a church group, then they need to question their level of commitment to that cause.
Saying 'no' is all very well in some situations - I've had to say no before because I physically don't have the time for things, but if I have the time to do something to help a cause I care about, I will do it. My time isn't mine, and neither is my life - it's God's, and I want to use it to please Him and not just myself.
Of course, I am very far from being perfect as Jesus is perfect. (Very very very far) But I sure wish it was easier to get volunteers for things. I believe I heard that in any volunteer run organization (includidng churches) 10% of the people do 80% of the work. No wonder you have to say no sometimes just because you can't physically do it all! I know I say no plenty of times. And everytime I do, I bet some organizer say "bah humbug! Why does everyone say no?!"
I have always loved how people manipulate a phrase to suit their purpose. As I recall Just Say No related to drugs & alcohol and not to limiting your involvement in worthy activities. bah!
I read this argument online the other day. Woman A saw a nursing mother harrassed for NIP in a right to nurse state by a store manager. Woman A did nothing at the time but organized a boycot of that store and a nurse in through LLL. Woman B, a poster on the website, said that Woman A went to too much trouble to take up for the nursing mother, because the mother had not lifted a finger to stand up for herself. She repeated my pet peeve phrase, God helps those who help themselves.
I mean sure, if Christ had taken that approach, just think where we'd be! And if those not personally invested in the women's rights movements and abolition movements had not stood up for those who didn't help themselves, I'm sure blacks and women would have the right to vote by now, no?
Christ didn't have to die for us, he could have had his cushy kingdom with no pain or personal loss, but thank God, he just said yes.
Kristin, Amen and Amen!
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