Day 6 at the Shelter - My Mission

After the house meeting ends (on Tues nights) we pick chores. The system I’ve tried to use goes through the house in one month by breaking it up into zones for detailed cleaning and a little bit of maintenance cleaning of the whole home during each week. So I decided to try and pick chores based on that so I’d have gotten a good habit going when I get a new place, though it will have been on a smaller scale it would still be good enough that hopefully I could build on the momentum. So I picked cleaning up the front yard as that is the first zone tackled in a month. Then as i was thinking I realized how important it was in my mind an maybe for the other women as well to work on the front yard.

The yard is the first thing they see when they arrive at the shelter. While I was relieved to be at the shelter and hopeful that it would help, I still noticed when I first arrived that it was messy. Now, after seeing the issues the ladies were struggling with and the selfish attitudes that were popping up - I thought, here is part of my mission. Overall, I want  to be able to show them the hope and difference trusting in God can make instead of just themselves. At first I wasn’t sure one way to accomplish this, but now I realize the significance of the chore I picked. I can do my part to help these ladies like coming “home”. Because people have come to the shelter to feel safe, they don’t spend time in the front yard, though it is big and beautifully designed. The focus is getting in the house after being out in the scary world, and once locked inside the gate, then going about their day. The yard has been neglected because it’s just a waypoint to the safe environment we’ve all hoped for. That state of it reflects that it isn’t important and not worth caring about. Yet coming home to the shelter, when the first thing you see is disorganization translates to more discomfort even after entering the home.

My task was to sweep the walkways from the parking lot and pick up trash on the ground. I did that the first day - there was so much dirt and rocks on the pathway that it took a long time to sweep. I then beat the welcome mats out so they weren’t caked with dust and lastly, stopped to curl up the hose that someone had used and left stretched out for at least this whole first week I’d been there. I walked around the yard to see what other things I could do the following day that would make the yard look better.

It’s already working. I heard a lady tell her friend that she actually smiled when she came back that day. I see these chores (and being there as well) as my greater purpose. I am not just here for me. I’m not just here for the kids. I’m here for God - this shelter is a real reminder that though so many people get settled and comfortable in their lives, this isn’t really our home. We are made for something bigger and greater. We are passing through this life. We need to seek to discover what we can do while we are here for Him and for others. The staff at the shelter are helping us face our pain and work through them. I intend to spend as much time as I can giving back and pointing to God as the Ultimate One who is helping me. Maybe He can use me to bring a deeper hope to some of these women that the staff can’t bring no matter how hard we try. That is my purpose I believe God has for me in the shelter!