Jury Duty
Danielle King / Web and Database Administrator
Last month, for the first time, I received a summons for jury duty. I’ve heard about it from others and knew my day was probably coming since I’d never received the letter yet. There was a specific date listed on the paper, when I was supposed to call in at 5:30pm to see if I was chosen to report for jury selection. When that date finally came near, it was in the midst of family visiting from out of town, two of my children sick with the flu and my husband only just recovering from it. I was frustrated at the bad timing and stressed about figuring out the logistics of childcare (with sick kids, nonetheless), transportation (downtown is a foreign land to me!), work schedules, and just the anxiety of going into a new and unknown situation.
On the day of the phone call, I was actively trying to stay calm and avoid feeding the stress - I knew it would make the day drag on until 5:30pm when I would find out what the rest of my week may hold or not. I turned to God, praying for peace and asking Him to help me trust Him through whatever was coming next. As I prayed, a thought struck me - and I mean STRUCK me - as I considered the process from a wider perspective: What about all of the other people involved in this case?
Sure, maybe some other potential jurors were having kind of a tough week like me. But there were also lawyers preparing to choose the right people to hear the case, the aides going through mountains of paperwork, the office assistants organizing files, the judge presiding over the courtroom, the bailiff, the police officers, the typists. And, by the way, what about the person whose life was about to be scrutinized by his or her peers and the judge? What about his or her family? What about the people or parties that were hurt in some way?
I went to Him in prayer looking for assurance that He was going to help me, but He gave me more than that by reminding me it wasn’t really about me at all. Yes, He would be with me, so that if I had to show up, He could show up through me. Yes, He would help me, so that I would be prepared to serve others. He didn’t minimize my fears and my stress; He removed them from the equation. Once I got past seeing the inconvenience of the situation, I could see the opportunities in front of me. In fact, I didn’t even need to wait until that evening phone call to begin serving; I could and needed to start right then by praying for all of those other people involved in the case!
This may sound anticlimactic, but the truth is that when 5:30pm finally rolled around and I called in, I was told I did not have to report. And I won’t lie - I breathed a sigh of relief. But I was fully prepared to hear the opposite directive on the phone that night, all because God reminded me of the bigger picture and showed me my purpose in being involved in that process at all. Although my experience seemed to end before it really started, it taught me to hold onto that perspective for the future. Because the next time God calls me to a new opportunity, it will probably feel inconvenient, uncomfortable, and even scary, until I remember that it’s exciting, purposeful and a chance to selflessly serve - exactly like jury duty.
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| Photo by Billy on Unsplash |
On the day of the phone call, I was actively trying to stay calm and avoid feeding the stress - I knew it would make the day drag on until 5:30pm when I would find out what the rest of my week may hold or not. I turned to God, praying for peace and asking Him to help me trust Him through whatever was coming next. As I prayed, a thought struck me - and I mean STRUCK me - as I considered the process from a wider perspective: What about all of the other people involved in this case?
Sure, maybe some other potential jurors were having kind of a tough week like me. But there were also lawyers preparing to choose the right people to hear the case, the aides going through mountains of paperwork, the office assistants organizing files, the judge presiding over the courtroom, the bailiff, the police officers, the typists. And, by the way, what about the person whose life was about to be scrutinized by his or her peers and the judge? What about his or her family? What about the people or parties that were hurt in some way?
I went to Him in prayer looking for assurance that He was going to help me, but He gave me more than that by reminding me it wasn’t really about me at all. Yes, He would be with me, so that if I had to show up, He could show up through me. Yes, He would help me, so that I would be prepared to serve others. He didn’t minimize my fears and my stress; He removed them from the equation. Once I got past seeing the inconvenience of the situation, I could see the opportunities in front of me. In fact, I didn’t even need to wait until that evening phone call to begin serving; I could and needed to start right then by praying for all of those other people involved in the case!
This may sound anticlimactic, but the truth is that when 5:30pm finally rolled around and I called in, I was told I did not have to report. And I won’t lie - I breathed a sigh of relief. But I was fully prepared to hear the opposite directive on the phone that night, all because God reminded me of the bigger picture and showed me my purpose in being involved in that process at all. Although my experience seemed to end before it really started, it taught me to hold onto that perspective for the future. Because the next time God calls me to a new opportunity, it will probably feel inconvenient, uncomfortable, and even scary, until I remember that it’s exciting, purposeful and a chance to selflessly serve - exactly like jury duty.