Years ago, when I was leading a Christian ministry located in Pennsylvania’s beautiful Pocono Mountains, we experienced a stretch of severely bad weather. The weather was often more severe in nature in that region, so to some degree, we grew used to it, but one particular winter was particularly challenging. In addition to dealing with high winds, we also faced more snow and ice than was common. Some of the ice storms did so much damage in the area that it looked like a tornado had come through the region.

Our property was no exception to this, and one of the ice storms cause several of our larger trees to topple. As I stared at those fallen trees, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “It’s going to be a lot of work to get these trees cut up and removed.”

I started reaching out to several tree removal services just to get an idea of what it might cost to hire someone to handle the mess. The price tag was in the thousands, and I wasn’t sure the ministry could easily afford that expense. Thankfully, word of our need reached the ears of people who had been touched by the ministry in the past, and a couple volunteers offered their time, tools, and effort to remove the trees for us for free. It was hard work, but they didn’t ask for anything in return. They did, however, accept a hot lunch when we placed it before them.

Years earlier, another group of volunteers told me about a time they came to serve for a work day on that same property and the person who was leading the workday wanted to charge the volunteers for every cup of coffee they drank while volunteering their time. I imagine that felt rather insulting and thankless. That certainly wasn’t an example I wanted to emulate while people were helping me.

The reality is, there are some tasks the Lord may ask you to do throughout the course of your life that may initially feel thankless, particularly because the people you’re attempting to serve don’t seem very appreciative of your efforts. Parenting can feel like a thankless task at times. Serving in our vocations may feel thankless as well. Volunteering with your church or another ministry may feel the same way, but is it?

 In  and a professor at Cairn University where he leads the Digital Media and Communication program.  He also leads an online community called Platform Launchers where he helps people build message-based online platforms.

 John has authored over 30 books and presently hosts several podcasts on the LifeAudio podcast network.  His shows have been downloaded millions of times by listeners throughout the world.

You can learn more about John’s ministry, books, and podcasts at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com.