By Evan Ulrich, Brethren Volunteer Service Unit 325

My hope for the future is a world where we can use our unique gifts together to serve our communities with love. A future where the focus is less on money and personal wealth, and more on the collective well-being of all of our sisters and brothers on the Earth we share. My time with BVS and serving with Brethren Disaster Ministries has allowed me to see the good works that we can do when we all work together. It has shown me how everyone working as a team, given the proper tools and instruction, can do just about anything. Serving with love starts with a willingness to learn, a willingness to put others before self, and a willingness to work hard for no personal gain or motive.

This mindset of service is needed now more than ever. The gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is widening. More and more people are finding themselves without a safe home and without reliable sources of food, water, or heat. I have come to see this every day while rebuilding homes in rural eastern North Carolina.

I remember a conversation I had with one of the homeowners whose house we were working on that truly opened my eyes to how I want to live my life. She was sharing her story that was full of loss, struggles, and hardships. Things I could not ever imagine going through. Yet with every sentence she spoke, she did not stop telling me how blessed she was. And she sincerely meant it. It made me question and realize how easy it is for me to see the things I do not have, rather than give thanks for what is abundant in my life. From the outside looking in I was the one serving her, but she gave me something even more special in return: perspective.

I hope that we can realize how exceptionally important each of our lives are. As we live in this world together, we are called to lift up our neighbors with kindness, share the burdens of the people we are intricately connected with, and serve the world in love.

This article was originally featured in the summer issue of The Volunteer newsletter published by Brethren Volunteer Service. Learn more about this Core Ministry of the Church of the Brethren at www.brethren.org/bvs or support its ministry of serving with love at www.brethren.org/givebvs.

(Read this issue of eBrethren.)