Yesterday I served with an amazing team of women at our semi-annual spa day for the ladies of Calvary Women's Shelter. I really can't describe the day without becoming overwhelmed with emotion. It's truly one of my favorite ways to serve because it’s a day full of gratitude. To start, I was in tears yesterday as the ladies walked into the basement of the shelter to see the way we transformed their living space into a full service day spa- including a menu on par with that of the Mandarin Oriental (if I do say so myself) to include assorted sandwiches, summer salads, macaroons, and cucumber water, of course.
Again, the tears flowed as the women saw themselves for the first time after receiving hair and makeup services and they were so thankful for what some of us take for granted. One lady - we’ll call her Ms. T - completely lost it when Bre, one of the makeup artists, held the mirror in front of her after applying her makeup. She couldn’t hold back the tears and neither could the rest of us. She kept saying 'thank you, thank you' and one of the volunteers said to her “You deserve this.” and it must have clicked for Ms. T because she looked at me and said “I do deserve this.” I responded, “You most certainly do.”
Yesterday wasn’t about the services being performed; it’s much bigger than that. The service providers are not there just to make the women look more beautiful on the outside, they are there to also remind them of their inner beauty. They are there to treat them well, to serve them in a way that says ‘you matter.'
Each spa day, I lead the core team, service providers, and volunteers in prayer before the services begin. My prayer for yesterday was that we be remembered not for merely being good people, but for being Christians doing God’s work, and giving Him all the glory. We don’t want our purpose to ever be confused. We don’t show up because we’re good people (although I’d like to think that we are). We are there because we are called to be there. We are called to care for HIS people and when we show up, we show up in Jesus’ name.
