What does love with abandon mean to you? What would that look like in your daily life? In your relationships with family members, friends, and your community?When I was at the end of my sophomore year at a Catholic high school, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to a tribal reservation. I knew they wanted the group of us who were going to help run a week of Bible camp for children, but I didn’t think much about what the trip entailed. I just knew that it would be a chance for me to do something different, so I decided to go. It didn’t take long after arriving for me to realize that going was one of the best decisions I had ever made.
The bible camp took place at the Seven Dolors Church. We sang songs, did art projects, and spent a lot of time getting to know the kids. These children were different from the kids at the parishes in my hometown. Many of them didn’t go to church regularly, they didn’t have a “normal” family life, and they had already known more heartbreak than most people know in their lifetime. Witnessing the poverty and other difficult conditions that they experienced on a daily basis changed my life. What I experienced made reaching out to these kids so important that I have continued to volunteer at the reservation for a week each summer.
The children were so receptive to our message and to what we taught them about the faith; it was incredibly rewarding. But what has struck me the most was all they taught me. The children at this reservation carried with them a message of great hope. Though their lives were anything but easy, they continued to smile and view life as a gift. They also taught me to love with abandon. Too often I forget that it is in loving one another that I live for God, and not myself. And if God can continue to love me despite all of my flaws, who am I to deny love to those around me? I will forever remember with gratitude the children who showed me the importance of living with hope and loving with all my heart.
—Christy
What does love with abandon mean to you? What would that look like in your daily life? In your relationships with family members, friends, and your community?
Saying “yes” to God’s call once led to the author saying “yes” again and again to her particular mission. Where in your life might God be calling you to continue with a particular mission? Pray for the resolve to say “yes” again and again.