It’s all about perspective. This week, 130+ AmeriCorps volunteers from throughout the country have descended upon the Northeast End community in Wake Forest with the task of building three homes from framing to finish, 2 homes from painting to finish, and providing much needed exterior repairs to 10 owner-occupied homes—all the while living with co-workers in a freshman dorm at NC State.
Now if you were given this assignment to spend 10-12 hour days doing hard manual work all for a basic living stipend, you could easily adopt the perspective of dreading the work and hoping for it to be over.
But, no this is AmeriCorps Build-A-Thon! The title of Steven Curtis Chapman’s current hit song, A Glorious Unfolding, is a more apt, grander way to look at the work. This unfolding is a part of God’s grander plan—one where a community cares for each other—not because they HAVE to, but because they WANT to. When you have the grand picture as your perspective some incredibly hard work and long hours are transformed into something part of a bigger plan that unfolds with every nail hammered or wall painted.
I know that the 15 families being served through these efforts in Wake Forest this week and thoroughly enjoying this glorious unfolding this week as they partner with the AmeriCorps workers to build or repair their own homes!