Volunteer
Sometimes I have to be careful, I find myself offering the same solution to a lot of different challenges.
Feeling isolated and depressed? You should volunteer at a homeless shelter
Are you gripped with anxiety about finances? You should volunteer at a homeless shelter
Lost in the competitive world of commerce? You should volunteer at a homeless shelter
Is your faith experience too sedate for you? You should volunteer at a homeless shelter
Feeling diminished or worse, feeling contempt toward your fellow man? You should volunteer at a homeless shelter
I understand this has the risk of seeming self-serving, ie. serving others so you feel better, not my intention, but it is a beautiful bi-product of serving others. Ultimately as your own healing comes, your service becomes healthy and other-centered.
I really believe that the homeless shelter environment is one of the most beautiful and redemptive places on Earth, where we can gain perspective on life fairly quickly. Volunteering in a shelter also offers one of the few doubtless experiences we can find. Helping someone - not much doubt about that.
A partial list of the gifts I’ve received from my friends on the street:
Uni-directional giving:
It is one of the rare places where we can give without any expectation or possibility of return.
I believe this is key to freeing our hearts from the addictive transactional nature of this world.
Example: I can lend my lawnmower to my neighbor with no intention for repayment, but me borrowing their saw is now more of a potential, all good and part of a functioning society but again there’s a potential for repayment, it’s good for us to give in a way that is purely in one direction.
So when I show up and give one of my homeless friends a pair of socks, serve a meal, laugh together, help with a job application, a resume’, lend my ear, offer access to clothes, etc. It taps a place in me that needs to be cultivated, generosity, gratitude, love for others.
Gratitude:
It has taught me immense gratitude for what I have. I crawl into bed most nights and thank God for a safe/warm place to rest, a lock on my door, the love of my family, a bathroom, on and on. I know that life has been kind to me, and that a twist of an ankle, (among a million other causes) could’ve changed my course and landed me on the street, there is no difference between us, my friends are me without housing, that’s all.
Freedom from fear:
I also have an immense respect, an awe really, of the courage people have to face another day with awful challenges awaiting them.
One of the biggest gifts I’ve received being around my friends experiencing poverty is that their courage has set me free from the fear of poverty. Their courage… gifted to me.
This is an incomplete list of the many gifts awaiting us in the shelter - the greatest of these is love, friendship with people, friends I carry hope for.
You should volunteer at a homeless shelter
