I recently walked
into a store at the end of a day, wearing a paint splattered t-shirt, dirty cargo
pants and gumboots, my hair in a messy bun, and probably dirt streaked across my
face.
I was minding my own business and getting what needed to be got, when a
40 something year old, happy and very round man walked up to me, staring me up
and down. I laughed, most people ask about my bright purple gum boots, and I
presumed that was what he was about to ask about.
Lo and behold, I was
all wrong! He looked me up and down and asked "Are you an engineer?",
I was pretty stunned and a little flattered that someone would think I am as
qualified and advanced as an engineer! However I am not, and I answered this
man by saying "No, I am a construction worker, I volunteer on building
places of worship."
To which the happy man was suddenly the shocked one,
"Volunteer? Why would anyone volunteer on a building site? Do you mean you
actually work on a building for free?" the stunned man asked.
"Yes" I plainly stated, "I enjoy it, and I believe I am serving
my spiritual brothers and sisters and my great God Jehovah by doing this."
The poor confused man just walked away shaking his head and repeating
"Volunteer, she is a volunteer! Volunteer?" in different tones and
levels of shock.
However this
conversation led to me thinking a bit about that very question, why do I
volunteer when there are literally hundreds of other things I could be doing? A
friend recently said to me that my "business could be quite
lucrative", so why dont I just "work more days, allow more work and
money to come in"?
The truth be told, I
have thought of those questions, often. But the answer always returns as the
same, because I am happier this way.
The bible says at
Acts 20:35 that there is "more happiness in giving than there is in
receiving" and the truth is that I have felt and seen that.
Nothing compares to
the joy of seeing a person realize for the first time that God actually has a
personal name, and his name is not "Lord" or Jesus (Jesus is vitally
important to salvation, but he is the son of God, not God), or to see a person
finally click that all the wickedness in the world is not God's fault.
The energizing
effect I get from volunteering to build places of worship, being a part of a worldwide brotherhood. People of all nations, languages and races working
together, not for profit, but for the same reason I am - to serve God and to
serve our "neighbour".
Crying tears of joy
with people who are instantly my friends although I had never met them before,
because they are now receiving an honorable place of worship which they may
have been waiting for perhaps as long as 10 years.
Absolutely no
secular work in this world can even begin to compare to the benefits from that.
 |
| Borrowed from a friend's Instagram. This is Mpolweni Kingdom Hall, before and after. I have had the privilege of helping on this hall for the last 2 months |
So yeah, sometimes I
may be messy and tired, exhausted and broke, but one thing's for sure, I am
happy.
And genuine
happiness is something many billionaires cannot even attain.
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