What I heard at Dunkin Doughnuts this morning...

I love my new office at our 11010 location.  But since I really didn't have an office for the first 10 years of the church, I became accustomed to setting up shop at Panera or other locations.  Now, with a Dunkin Donuts so close to our church, it's hard not to camp out there a couple days a week.

Today, I have spent the morning and early afternoon working at Dunkin Donuts and it has been a busy place with lots of people meeting for business and pleasure.  I couldn't help but overhear one of the conversations about church at a table nearby.  One person expressed how sometimes church is just a sermon and songs, but at other times, you really connect with God through the sermon.  I think this is a common feeling for people on their spiritual journey.  They want to have an emotional and spiritual connection every Sunday.  And sometimes that happens while other times, not so much.

This reminded me of the one thing that all of us periodically miss in this process.   We forget that the church - a body of believers working together to accomplish the dream of God - is more than just a service and much more than a good sermon.  Although we all want to receive something, what happens if we approach church activities and services as an opportunity to give?  If we are ready to pray, encourage or bless someone else?  The possibilities are endless.  And most would walk away from church feeling encouraged and blessed.  Not just because they felt the sermon was for them, but also because they were used by God to build up someone else.

Live to Give

This month our church is going through a series on generosity.  So, we as a church have been looking for ways to give back to our community.  One idea that we had was to deliver cookies to nearby businesses in order to introduce ourselves.  We order Eileen's cookies and then sent people out to as many businesses that we could connect with in two afternoons.  It's amazing how quickly cookies with sprinkles can produce a smile. Even more, people wanted to talk (without cookies in their mouth).  The generous act moved them to stop what they were doing and enjoy the moment.  What's even better is that today we received flowers from one of the businesses that we shared cookies with.  Generosity not only produces smiles, but also generates more giving.
How can you be generous in your everyday life?  Maybe its not baking some cookies (frankly that's not something I should be generous with) but we all have something we can give.  We all have talents to share, experience in life or something practical that could fulfill a need.  I believe many people just want others to spend time listening to them.  You would be surprised how people would respond to you if you just gave them your time.
It's time to reverse the trend of "living to get" and embrace a more rewarding lifestyle of "living to give."  Give it a shot.  You won't be disappointed.