With Purpose Success, part 83

House number 1 was proceeding so fast that by the third day all eyes were on us. I was fascinated that our pace was being driven by an "old" man who said so very little. It became clear to me that Carter's leadership style did not involve barking at people or being critical, but making everybody on the site want to work to keep pace with him. 

Wade and Shalina Gibson, the young couple who with their three children were going to live in the house, worked with us. You could see it dawning on this low-income African-American couple that they were soon going to have their own house, and that it was being built by a former president! While on the site I liked to ask my fellow volunteers why they were taking part in the build. Almost everybody had the same answer: They didn't feel whole inside unless they took some time to help others. And for this group it wasn't about writing a check; it was about giving a chunk of their life. 

By twilight on the fourth day, we were laying sod and planting trees, then finally installing carpets and appliances, and at 3:30 pm on Friday- right on schedule-we were finished. President and Mrs. Carter brought us inside the house for a ceremony, and as our group of forty coworkers and new friends stood together in a circle holding hands it hit everyone pretty much at once that we had just done a wonderful thing. 

Exhausted and filthy but with full hearts, we huddled as President Carter said a prayer and turned to Wade and Shalina and gave them a white linen-covered Bible-the first book for their first house. The gesture was so powerful; the emotional intensity in the room went up a notch, if that was possible. "Do you know what Jesus did as a young man?" President Carter asked. "He was a carpenter; he worked with his hands. By allowing us to build your house, in a small way you've allowed us to do the work of the 

Lord." Although three hundred pounds of muscle, Wade started to cry like a baby, as did Shalina. Pretty soon we were all crying. It didn't even matter what particular religion any of us subscribed to-the feelings we all shared were deeply spiritual 

Before our group broke up President Carter urged all of us who are fortunate in life to never forget those who are not. He spoke of the blessing of giving, how the harder he and Mrs. Carter work the more blessed they feel by the results. 

I just find Carter's thinking on the subject so compelling that it bears frequent mention. Giving of himself, the president has told me, makes him stronger. "Every time we thought we were making a sacrifice for others, it has turned out to be one of our greatest blessings," he said. "In other words; we have gotten more out of it than we have put into it. 

You just try it, even if it's nothing more than going to a public hospital and rocking a baby for two hours a week. It's an expansion of life, an encounter with new people who are potentially friends. And so, it's a learning process, an exciting process that gives new and expanding life experiences." 

What We Get When We Give