Debra

Yesterday morning was my third week volunteering at The Listening House in St. Paul, MN. I think we’ve all learned that it’s human nature to stay away from the uncomfortable. For that reason, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous upon my first day of volunteering at a new place. That was a short three weeks ago, but yesterday when I walked through The Listening House’s doors, all I felt was comfort and love. I get to greet community members by name, ask how life has been since I last saw them, and they ask how I am doing in return—interactions that are not driven by some sort of indirect form of therapy in which one person gives and the other receives…these are relationships.

Yesterday, I met Debra for the first time. After the morning rush calmed a bit, people had settled in couches and chairs, leaving the front desk more or less empty. Debra hung around. She offered to help when she saw that the task I was working on required more than my own two hands. We got to talking and she showed me pictures of her four daughters. She told me about each of them: Suzette, the diva; Kandice, the reader; Kendall, the talker; and her youngest, Delia, the fighter, born nine weeks premature and still kicking. She told me about her experience taking each one of them home from the hospital. She was beaming as I listened to her life.  When other community members came to the desk asking for razors or soap once we had run out, Debra would dig through her bag and give out extras of her own.

Our conversation soon ended, Debra left, and my volunteer shift came to a close. But I thought about her all day. And I sincerely hope to see her next time I’m at The Listening House. See, we didn’t talk about God at all, but Debra knows how to love people better than most Christians I know. She shows it and she makes sure they feel it. We can all learn something from people like Debra–learn how to love, learn about strength, and learn about giving.

If I can encourage you all in anything today, it would be this: don’t be afraid to go beyond your levels of comfort to show love to the people who need it.

Until next time, love.

-Jess

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