The Gift of Time - When it comes to things that matter, your time could be the most important thing you share.

by Steven Molin

It’s 8:30 on a Thursday morning at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota. Norman, a 78-year-old retired landscaper, and Scott, a 30-something stay-at-home dad, pull their pickup trucks into the parking lot and begin unloading their equipment. They climb aboard their lawn tractors, cut four acres of grass before noon, share a nice hot cup of coffee, load up their tractors and head home. After mowing the church lawn for three years, the two have become good friends. If either of them missed a Thursday, our first call would not be to their homes to see why they didn’t come, it would be to the admissions desk at the local hospital to find out why they couldn’t come!

I once asked Norman and Scott why they showed up every Thursday morning, rain or shine, to mow the church lawn. “Because I still can!” Norman said with a twinkle in his eye. Scott was more introspective: “Don’t ever ask me to teach Sunday school or sing in the choir; that’s not me. But I love this church and what it means to my family, and this is one thing I can do to show my gratitude.”

People volunteer for a variety of reasons. Some, like Norman and Scott, enjoy servicing a community they cherish. They see a need and fill it. Others like to touch a life in a significant way or simply lighten the load of a weary soul. Still others enjoy the social interaction found in working together for a common cause. But the shared thread among all of the volunteers I have met is a desire to make a difference in their part of the world. Not everyone can travel to Sudan to feed starving children, but we can pack the food so that others can deliver it. Most of us will not have the opportunity to help rebuild New Orleans, but we can rebuild a crumbling home right in our own community. In fact, most volunteer activity is done within our own circle of influence—in our churches, schools, organizations and neighborhoods.

Every effort, great and small, matters. And no effort is too small—whether it’s licking envelopes for a church fundraiser or simply offering a listening ear to a hurting friend, the gift of service is enormous and the reward immeasurable. This desire to serve is an integral part of who we are as Christians. We have been trained by the Master, we have been blessed with remarkable skills and abilities, and we have been commissioned to go and serve our sisters and brothers in this world.

Even in the simplest acts of volunteerism, our motivation is clear: Jesus says, “Whatever you do for the least of these brothers of mine, you do for me.” Mowing the church lawn may not seem like a radical act, but Norman and Scott save our congregation thousands of dollars each year. Similarly, each of us can use our individual gifts—from volunteering in a classroom to visiting the sick at a local hospital—in service to the Kingdom and, ultimately, the world.

The Rev. Steven Molin is senior pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota, and author of If There Were No Lutherans Would There Still Be Green Jell-O?