Go Volunteers

No, this is not an article on football.

Working for a zoo for nearly a month now, and having worked for other non-profits in the past, I am being reminded of the crucial importance of that special type of person called a volunteer.

Organizations like zoos would be obsolete without their helping hands. There is so much to do to keep the zoo, and places like them, running, it would be impossible to pay an army near enough to accomplish it all.

Volunteers are some of the hardest working folks I know. The nature of volunteerism assumes a willingness to work. For a day, a volunteer will do almost anything.

And yet they are sadly under-appreciated. Which is dangerous ground to tread if you want to hold on to your volunteer!

So I’d like to pay tribute to two of the most special volunteers I know.

First, my mom.

She’s come to visit me for the first time since I’ve moved to Billings, and all she’s done since she’s been here is work… really hard for me volunteering at the zoo. She’s barely seen the light of day, she’s been doing so much. I can’t put a price tag on how much she’s done to help me get organized and caught up running the zoo gift shop.

Thank you, mom. What you’ve done for me in the past two days would have taken me weeks.

Second, Jesus!

I would be obsolete without His sacrificial actions. He’s done everything for me that I’d never be able to accomplish on my own. There’s nothing I could pay Him for what He’s done. He showed willingness to die for me. And yet, I under-appreciate Him on a regular basis. Thank God, since Jesus is holding on to me, how much I appreciate Him does not help me hold on to Him better.

Thank You, Jesus. A lifetime of so-called “righteous” acts would never equal what You did for me.

Happy Wednesday, Dry Ground friends!

(photo by photobucket.com)