What do I give? What do I need?

I was at the 25+ Bible Study last week where we watched Simply Enough. Shane Claiborne challenged us that true Christian community must extend across class lines, for it is in these instances that we understand God's love more deeply.

Tonight our youth will be serving at Out of the Cold again. The guests we serve are clearly in need. They are in need of a warm meal. They are in need of a warm space to sleep. I can help provide these things.

But what do I need? And can the people I serve provide these things to me? These questions will be going through my mind tonight, and I'm not sure of the answers yet. But here's a few of the things I need:

I need to accept I'm human. I don't like this one bit, but I can't do everything, even though society tells me over and over to be "productive" and "efficient" with my time to get the most out of life. Can I learn this from people living in poverty?

I need to reject entitlement. I don't deserve wealth and expensive meals any more than my neighbours deserve poverty and a lack of meals.

I need to learn unconditional love. Do I love people as Jesus did or only when they do things to make me happy?

What do you need?