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You know what I find interesting about working at an emergency shelter?
The deepest desire most of our guests and community members have when they come to talk to me. That's what I find fascinating. ... And it may not be what you think it would be.
Now, mind you, there isn't the opportunity for me to visit with our guests that there once was. Back in the days when our agency was financially in dire straits, I worked directly on the floor at the shelter far more often.
However, in recent months, as we started to stabilize our funding and hire back many of the positions we had eliminated two years ago, I find myself working out in the community far more than in house. That's my job: fundraising and "friendraising."
But, on occasion, I still get to stroll through the community center where so many of our neighbors gather, and it is fulfilling how many see their way over to happily chat me up.
The calls of, "Hey, Pastor D!" or "Pastor D, what's up?" or "Yo, Pastor D!" never get old. ... How gracious of them to be so kind to me, and humbling that so many want to visit with me.
And despite my being the CEO, very rarely do any of the neighbors we serve request anything of me. No favors to ask, or special permissions to be granted.
Rather, their most pressing request goes unstated, but not unrecognized. They don't want anything from me other than to simply be recognized by the pastor who runs the operation.
That's it: They just want to be seen!
They're far more interested in how my day is going, or who I have meetings with that day, or whether I'm up to date on all the recent shelter news. The kiddos who catch me coming or going in our hallways or as I pass their table at dinner time, want high fives and want me to see their cool light up shoes or to tell me about their day or about how they want to come back to work at the shelter one day.
"One day," I say, "but for today let's take a look at those cool shoes!"
Confession: The conversations I have with our neighbors who we serve are the single greatest influence on me getting up for work the next day. Because, considering the countless hours we put in, there's no more powerful motivator than seeing and feeling the gratitude of the hundreds of people we serve every single day to make you want to come back to work.
Maybe this sentiment doesn't make as much sense in black and white as it does in my head, but given the opportunity to bend the shelter CEO's ear about anything they would wish, nearly every single person we serve who comes up to talk to me just wants to have a conversation.
I think that is a very powerful statement about our need to feel seen. Amen.
Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.