Embrace Living with Volunteers: A Special Devotion
The devotion at the February St. John’s Home Auxiliary meeting was offered by Lori Lorraine, St. John’s Home Volunteer Manager. I felt it was a message that each SJH Auxiliary Member would want to be able to read and read again, so I asked Lori for a copy. The reading is from Hugs for Friends by G.A. Myers. Lori took liberty and replaced the word friend with volunteer. Here is what she shared…
“No modern medicine or meditation has quite the same healing effect as a volunteer relationship. A volunteer can take the space once occupied by loneliness and fill it to the brim with partnership and purpose. Isolation is replaced by delightful companionship. Heartache is healed by the joy and satisfaction of camaraderie.”
Only a soul mate can fill the need in each of us for true companionship, the craving to be known, understood, and valued. And that kind of volunteer is a rare gift. But when that treasure is found, it works its way into our lives, into the deepest recesses of our hearts. Volunteer relationships transform us. It replaces selfishness with a spirit of sacrifice. It soothes the sadness of loss and raises a song of joy. It buries the hatchet of hatred and reaps a harvest of love.
The wonderful miraculous thing about being a volunteer is, anyone can participate. Each of us has the power to partner with another and, in so doing change the world one heart at a time. You, as a volunteer have that power. Your companionship can bring peace and joy to another.
Volunteering does require an investment. It takes time to build. You’ll have to share your pain and loss, even reveal your weaknesses. But the rewards are worth it, because volunteering means not only bearing one another’s burdens but also sharing in victories, in healing, in joy. And in a world fueled by greed, selfishness, and hatred, volunteering in companionship may be the only way to make a difference.”
Thank you, Lori, for this unique perspective on the volunteer efforts of SJH Auxiliary members.