July 2020 Newsletter | AFC Changing Lives | How a Yellow Balloon Made Me Realize That My Service Mattered


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By Caroline Burns, 2014 Service Corps Missionary

It's a pretty simple story, but it's amazing how God can use the routine and ordinary to do His own, extraordinarily. Basically, it was my Service Corps year and the first day of the third or fourth Holy Family Fest℠ and so I knew my schedule really well by now and was basically a pro. Some of my jobs seemed pretty simple and routine, like handing out balloons. For balloons, you are out in the heat all afternoon and it is pretty hot, so all I could think about were my next jobs at Mass and then the teens' program (which at the time, in my mind, were much more important jobs, that actually could make a difference).

So, I began handing out balloons, smiling and making small talk; basically just getting through the job. I think it was a later shift so I had a ton of balloons and not a lot of people to give them to. Then, I saw this lady, and for some reason I thought to myself, “I'm gonna give her a balloon.”

As she started heading back to her car I said, "Welcome to CFL! Do you want a balloon?" She told me that she thought they were only for the children, and I told her that I hadn't heard any rules against parents having balloons. She laughed, and I started handing her a yellow balloon. She got a big smile on her face and told me that yellow was her daughter's favorite color, and then she started crying a bit. She told me how her daughter had passed away last year and how yellow always reminded her of her daughter.

I handed her another balloon and told her to take a second one for her daughter too. She just hugged me and through her tears told me that very day was also her daughter's birthday! She talked a bit more and told me about her daughter and how it was difficult to be there that year without her. I didn't know what to say, so I just told her that I was glad she chose to still be with us and to celebrate her daughter's birthday with us this year.

It wasn't anything super extravagant, but it probably was the most impactful conversation I had that week, for myself. I left that conversation with a new understanding of all my tasks. I didn't want to just get through them, I wanted to use each task as a chance to love. Even if it was something as simple as handing out balloons. You just never know how God can take the smallest, simplest acts to touch someone's heart. Who would have ever guessed the great impact of a yellow balloon?

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