Key Bible Verse: I will gladly spend myself and all I have for your spiritual good (2 Corinthians 12:15). Bonus Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:7–12

When Joyce arrives at the gate, the guards wave her through. After all, she’s been spending her lunch hour at the St. Louis County Correctional Institution just about every weekday since 1979, leaving her office alone while other secretaries bustle off in clusters for the cafeteria.

Each day Joyce meets with a different group, from the men in maximum security to a small group of women prisoners. “Sometimes we have a worship service, or a time of testimony and singing, or Bible study and discussion. It depends on their needs.”

When she slips back to her desk at one o’clock, one of her coworkers is usually bemoaning her lunchtime excesses, promising to take the diet plate tomorrow. Joyce laughs to herself. She knows exactly what she’ll have for lunch tomorrow—another peanut butter sandwich at the wheel of her car.

For many, meeting with inmates every day in the middle of a hectic work schedule would be an unthinkable chore. Joyce sees it differently. “For me, it’s a real answer to prayer,” she says. “You see, I don’t have time to go after work—I have six kids that I’m raising by myself.”

My Response: Part of my week that I could devote to serving others is …

Thought to Apply: Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
—Albert Schweitzer (French medical missionary, 20th century)