More From Mary Hunt Webb

Since today’s meditation mentions volunteering, I recalled a summer decades ago when, in my late teens, I volunteered to assist in Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. The church was miles from our home, and my family did not own a car.  We rode to church with friends on Sundays and other times, but for VBS I had to board a city bus and transfer to yet another bus that took me within four blocks of our church. Because the weather was hot and humid, someone from church provided transportation after the morning’s activities were over. Since I was employed part-time that summer, I had obtained permission to arrive at my job in the afternoons after VBS.

That church is now gone, and those children I taught that summer may be grandparents by now, but it is my hope that the seeds I planted long ago have sprouted and spread to other generations.

Not long after that summer, volunteering changed my life when I agreed to serve as an interpreter of Spanish and English for a group of students near the University of Oklahoma campus. Along with the students that spoke English was a Spanish-speaking fellow who had just arrived from Mexico, so they needed an interpreter. The students were able to attend because Morris, a graduate student, had volunteered to drive the group of five young men to the event at his own expense. Morris has since said that it appeared to him as though I had a spotlight shining on me that evening. The next day he asked me to go with him to a Christian event the following weekend. That eventually led to our engagement and then our wedding.

As Morris and I anticipate our fifty-fourth wedding anniversary this coming summer, we remain amazed at how God brought us together. Our very different fields of study at that time were centered in buildings that were located far apart on the university campus. We might never have met if God had not arranged it.

Although I am retired from the community college where I worked with adults who faced challenges in learning, I am now teaching American Sign Language as a volunteer at my church. I also teach through my writing so that I am reaching people I will never meet this side of heaven.

I firmly believe that volunteering is therapeutic for those who give their time to benefit others. It’s not just those who are helped that receive the benefit. I believe those who give of their time and talents reap the greatest blessings. Morris and I are living proof of that!

Morris and I pray that we can reflect our Lord to others through our Webbsite. We welcome you to explore our postings on our Webbsite at http://www.maryhuntwebb.com/.