I binge-watched The Good Place on Monday Night.
(Backstory: It’s a TV Show about a town where those who have been good throughout their lives go once they have passed away. It follows a character named Eleanor who arrives at the Good Place and realizes she has been mistaken for someone else then seeks help to secretly earn her spot in the Good Place.)
Through a series of lessons and self reflection Eleanor, a self-centered individual, comes to the understanding that her motivation behind her “good” actions isn’t pure, rendering them useless, essentially, in the realm of the Good Place due to inauthenticity. They call this “moral desert”.
See where I’m going with this yet?
Real life example: Last night I went to a Thanksgiving outreach with my church to hand out meals to a local community made up of predominantly refugees and immigrants.
Flashback: “Your World Race starts now, not when you leave America in January” they told us at training camp (see previous blog if confused).
But what does that MEAN?
I arrive 17 minutes late to the meeting location, saunter into the building lobby and slip in with a crowd, searching for the faces I knew.
Instructions, prayers, dividing supplies and manpower then we’re off.
I’m in a car with two new people and a close friend, we drive and chat then arrive at a nearby apartment complex.
“What am I going to say? What if they don’t speak English? Is it dumb that I’m nervous?” My internal dialogue is raging. It’s literally 6:00pm on a Tuesday and I’m just helping hand out free Thanksgiving meals and I’m nervous, like…what even?
It’s chilly, we’ve teamed up with our new friends and a couple other friends to go door to door and tell everyone where to find the food. It’s brisk, it’s obscenely dark for 6:00pm and we’re all just….there.
“Are they nervous? What should we say?”
I look to my friends that have done these kinds of things before and I wait for them to knock on a door so I can mentally copy their spiel and regurgitate it on my own at the next door.
“what do they think of us? Do we seem like we’re being pretentious? how should I feel right now?”
Once we knocked on all the doors to tell people we walk back to the leasing office in laughter and gentle conversation with a new sense of comradery. They hand us bags of food and frozen turkeys to go hand out this time and this was the rest of the night until we were out of food.
“Are we doing this right? should we be saying anything else? I didn’t even know this kind of community existed in Dallas”
We met a lady named Ms. Shoon who told us that she was about to go to the gas station and panhandle for some change to eat that night until she heard we were there with food.
In the couple hours leading up to this outreach, I was wondering if I should even go knowing I’d be late with traffic and wondering if I should just go home and do laundry. If I didn’t know someone was going that I knew, I would have gone home, if I’m being real.
So where was my heart? Where was my motivation?
In The Good Place there’s an episode where Eleanor says “I’ve been good for 6 months and it sucks” things aren’t going perfectly for her and she’s wondering what the whole point of being a servant to the world is.
It’s easy to get this way – you get beat down from work, from friends, from relationships FROM YOURSELF, and you wonder “why am I doing these things and not getting it in return” or maybe you’re more mature than that and don’t think that. I don’t know but it doesn’t really matter.
God will use you and teach you something despite your “moral desert.”
The point of the World Race is to teach you something about yourself, who God is and a look at the people that exist outside of your normal field of vision and that doesn’t have to happen across the sea.
Galatians 5:13
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. “
None of my inner dialogue mattered – I got to see people light up at a bag of food and THAT is community. THAT is love. The gospel is simple and sometimes you see it in
a laugh
a smile
a steady arm to help you down the step
or even in the face and arms of people who are committed to doing things just for the sake of others. That’s the most infectious of them all.
It’s our job to take care of one another, I learned that last night.
Subscribe and comment about your life and your thoughts and whatnot so I can see I’m not talking to an empty void – or don’t your call. Either way thanks for stopping by.
LOVE YOU ALL AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Your doing Awesome Allie! I am so blessed that you are part of the T-squad family.
Allie I absolutely love your blatant honestly! These are definitely things that I can assure you we all think but never say. But you’re so right the gospel is simple, and a huge part is exactly what you said, “It’s our job to take care of one another.” Stay strong girl, can’t wait to head out together in January!
This was definitely a good read. Thank you for displaying your personality and thought process. I pray you have a lovely Thanksgiving as well. Much love
Love this, Allie! I can relate to these feelings. I love that song at the beginning! Love you!
Good Thanksgiving lesson shared and learned–thank you, Allie! Yes, we are definitely reading and listening and praying for you and your squad.