It Makes Me Feel Good to Make a Jelly Sandwich

A youth group from Mount Pisgah Academy joined us for our Free Store conversation on Tuesday morning.  Since the meeting room was too small for our group we moved outside and sat under the shady trees and listened to the city traffic in the background.  The Pisgah group told us that they will be travelling around for five weeks this summer just helping out wherever they are needed.  They said that "our motto is Yes!"  Someone said that they might be sorry for saying that before the day was over which made us laugh.

To begin our conversation we went around the circle and read Romans 12 out loud.  At least those with arms long enough or glasses strong enough read it.  After this someone said that the chapter talks a lot about being selfless and willing to help others.  We were asked to talk about anything that we thought was important about the passage.

Jack said, "I am a doer.  If something needs done then that is worship to me."  He said that there are many ways that you can help people.  He also said that "people will say thank you for something and I don't even remember doing it."  Our new friend Joseph said that if you don't love others then how can you say you love God because God is love.

At this point Marney said that in helping others you have to be really strong.  She said that unless you are actually helping people in the right way that you can become an enabler of bad behavior.  Liz said, "I hate it when people say 'It makes me feel good to help other people.'"  She said, "It makes me feel good to make a jelly sandwich but that's not why I do it" which made us laugh.  She went on to say that love is not easy and that it is multifaceted and ultimately it is a decision we make.  She said that when you help someone it doesn't mean that they are below you because you are helping them.

Our new friend Beth told us that when she started doing these excursions with the Mount Pisgah youth group that she told them that she would work right alongside them.  She said that on the first job they were helping clean up a yard that was completely out of control.  As they started to work the lady that owned the property brought two chairs and wanted her to sit down and talk while the kids worked.  She said it was very hard to just sit there and have a conversation with the woman while the kids did the work.  But she realized that sometimes just being with someone is as important as anything else we can do for them.

As the conversation moved to a conclusion our friend Terrence said that  no matter what you are going through that God is with you.  Our new friend Joseph told us that although it is natural to want to retaliate when someone hurts you that it is possible to love others even when we are mistreated.  Although that sounded like a very hard thing to do we also thought it was some deep wisdom from our young friend.