Today I spent part of my morning with several other ladies of the church preparing stuffed shells in our church kitchen. These will become healthy gifts for the congregants tomorrow after our Sunday service. Of course, we don’t stand mute while we work on our luncheon, but rather catch up on all the news.
One of our members is out sick so our first topic of conversation was to learn how she was doing. Another shell stuffer, who is having trouble with low blood pressure, had to quit working with us and go home. Our concern became evident in our discussion of her condition. We talked about our dogs, our kids and grandkids and a nephew newly added to a major league baseball team.
And before we knew it, two hours had flown by, the shells were ready for baking in the morning, and the dirty dishes were cleaned and replaced in the cabinets. Once again we were ready to go back out into our separate worlds until we meet again tomorrow to finish cooking the shells and serve these kosher gifts to our fellow church members.
So while creating lunch for the church we had inadvertently worked on building friendships with each other and feeding our own needs for fellowship. Only having been a member of this group for about eight months, I already feel a kinship with them that would have probably taken years to grow had it not been for these hours we spend together every month doing the Second Sunday Meal. The Healthy Kosher Organic gift basket is a perfect example
Another by-product of these meals is the fellowship that the people who come to enjoy our lunches are able to have while eating. Many times, there will be little groups talking and laughing with each other, long after the food is gone, the tables are cleaned and most of our work in the kitchen is finished.
Often during our lives, especially while helping others, we’re really doing a bigger service to ourselves than the ones we’re helping. Fellowshipping with other people is a major part or our lives whether we even realize we’re doing it or not. It‘s been said that friendships aren’t anything big, but rather a lot of little things, and this is so true.
The most unhappy people in the world aren’t this way because they didn’t get to buy that new car or dress they wanted or their house isn’t as big as the one next door or they don’t get to travel to far-off places. Even though they may not know it, their basic unhappiness is more likely due to not having relationships with others in place that feed their need for fellowship. People hunger to spend time with each other on a daily basis. So whether your healthy gifts to others are a Sunday lunch of stuffed shells, hot dogs or turkey and dressing or whether you’re more the type to meet with friends and prepare gourmet gift baskets, the time spent with others preparing these gifts are worth much more than any food you may fix. Food for the soul is just as necessary as food for the body.
