When I was training to be a nursing supervisor, the woman orienting me to the job taught me much, but there was one bit of advice to which I never listened.

She told me that when I got a call for an emergency or a code blue -- a cardiac arrest -- I should show up, assess the situation and then tell them what I was willing to do so that they could rearrange their tasks.

Yes, I was their superior.  Yes, I could announce what I was going to do in the code blue, but each nursing unit had an organizational plan and usually they worked together well.  So I learned very quickly that the best thing to do was to show up and assess the situation and if they were functioning well I would do whatever they asked or needed me to do.

As Christians and volunteers, we often see ourselves as my old colleague did.  We show up and announce what we are willing to do in a situation that calls for our help.  And if we are asked to volunteer we have a preconceived idea of what we are willing to do.  But needs change and roles change.  And the Lord's work continues to be done, and done more effectively if we are willing to look for the need and plug ourselves in rather than showing up already knowing what we need to do to meet our own sense of self.

I was really impressed this year when the group from whom we usually get our names for our Thanksgiving baskets decided that rather than handing our names of people in need to churches and other organizations, they would handle the baskets themselves.  I didn't hear any of the women in our church complaining about their job being usurped or that we had never done it that way.  They saw the logic and efficiency and began immediately raising money for the effort.

When a need that we have met in the past gets taken over we say thanks be to God and we begin to look around for where the next need is and figure out how to help.

Today I give thanks for the people of our church who continue every day to look out and say "use me," who look out at the world and see a need and simply fill it.

Lord,
We give you thanks that we get to be a part of your work in this world.  We give you thanks for all those willing hands with whom we work. 
Amen