Written by: Maya Bissessar
My decision to join Toronto City Mission didn’t begin as a divine utterance from God nor was it an intentional move to advance my career. It came from a place of weariness. As a fourth year student in university, I was on track to graduate in Fall 2024 but the Lord let certain events happen and my spring semester was disappointing. I didn’t have it within me to keep going another semester so without much thought, I decided to work during the summer. My friend who interned here recommended that I apply and by God’s grace, I secured the job as the Office Intern.
My responsibilities are to develop effective strategies to share TCM’s work with the public, some administrative tasks and photography/videography. This job ‘checked all the boxes’ for me but there was something more that God desired from me, and it required obedience, compassion and humility. He wanted me to get out of the comfort of my air-conditioned office to visit the sites and see His work being done. I resisted at first but slowly and surely, I gave in.
I spent some time at the Kingston Galloway site since it is close to home and I was overwhelmed by how in need this community was. I thought to myself that as the office intern who only showed their face at camp once a week for no more than an hour or two, it was not my responsibility to be a ‘big sister’ to these children. After all, these kids are no strangers to ‘revolving door relationships’ where people would come and go out of their lives and it would be selfish to show them love, and ultimately walk out of their lives. It would be like adding salt to an open, raw wound plus, I serve in a kid's ministry at my home church and that’s good enough. But masquerading behind my pathetic excuse were these thoughts: I had nothing to benefit from helping these children, at times I felt morally not good or competent enough to mentor them, other interns at the site could step up and do my job perhaps even better than I could and I feared that my efforts would be in vain. My understanding of generosity was anaemic, but the Lord taught me that being generous with our time, talents, and treasure is something Christians are called to, and it is a true gift from God.
So, I decided to get out of my way and to remove my hands which were blocking the blessings of God. I chose to participate in day trips and outings and though they were fatiguing in every way imaginable, I do not regret them. Instead of choosing selfishness and engaging in conversations that would benefit me, I chose to talk to the kids, be a good listener, answer their never-ending questions, challenge them to think outside the box and be slow to anger when they would test my patience - which was a lot more often than I expected!
If I could sum up my experience in one bible verse it would be Proverbs 11:24-25 which says One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. My prayer is to cheerfully give without counting the cost, labour without the need of a reward, and serve without the need of recognition.
“One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. ”