You don’t need a mission trip to serve. Your neighbor’s yard is closer than another country.

Big, distant plans are more exciting than near ones, and the excitement can be a way of postponing what you could do today. Travel adds significance to effort without adding usefulness. Meanwhile the need next door stays unmet because it is unglamorous and nobody is going to photograph it. Distance is not what makes help count.

Look at the street you live on and find the thing that needs doing: bins, leaves, a driveway, a shovel in winter. Do it Saturday, before your shift or after it. Most of it needs no announcement and no permission.