Building a Blessing

This weekend I attended a groundbreaking for a new Habitat House our church is building in conjunction with a partner church here in Orlando. We haven’t started the actual construction but it is always inspiring to see people working together to create a new beginning, no matter what it entails. And while this was a “ceremonial” event, it gave us all a chance to meet the family we are helping with our efforts.

In the words of Valerie Justice, the head of the family that will be moving in, “I never even thought about owning a home. I set my mind to being a renter all my life.” Her son Rodney added, “It’s a fresh start for us. We’ve been truly blessed.”

The more we are blessed, the more of a blessing we must be … that’s something that our CEO believes and that we all can choose to live. Community service takes many forms but none so fulfilling as seeing the change that a family can experience with the help of caring volunteers. Whether it is helping Habitat build a first home or being there to comfort hospice families as one of our small faith community members does, acting as a blessing is paying it forward. This is a choice we have, no matter how we decide to express it.

After all, we never know when we will need that same helping hand, that same special blessing that could come when we least expect it.