#10 Selfish Serving?

Sometimes I wonder who I am writing for. Am I writing for you guys, in hopes of enriching the world in some way, or am I writing for myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m instructing myself, rather than you. Usually I give up this conversation by asking myself:

Why not both?

Do people fill a need simply because it’s there to be filled? Or do they do what they love in such a way that it meets a need? Maybe the answer is that we are, in fact, simply meeting needs. We are meeting our own as we meet the needs of others. I think that’s what ignites a passion inside of us. I mean, sure-having something we love doing is great, but it elevates to a whole new level when we use it for others. It’s a sweet union of helping others as we help ourselves. I wonder if that’s what Jesus was talking about when He told us to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” I mean, how else do you fit those two together? 

But so often it seems that life can’t be like this. We say things like “oh, the bills just have to get paid. That rent isn’t going to take care of itself.” But I think that’s just lazy thinking. Yeah, bills have to get paid, but I think we should start seeing our decisions as opportunities to become more. With each decision that we make, a question must be charged. In everything we do, we ought to be asking ourselves

What kind of person is this turning me into?

Do you want to be a superstar? A manager? Anywhere up the ladders of life, for that matter? Start by asking yourself what kind of person you would have to be in order to get there. Then start being that person. Whether you are in that position or not, start developing the skills and traits to be there. 

All that to say we could turn serving into a growth opportunity as well. If we develop others as a way of developing ourselves, we could do some serious developing right there. But it might feel like overkill to try to hyper-analyze every single decision we make for the rest of our lives. That would make things pretty miserable. Although it’s valuable to think about our decisions in that kind of light, I think there’s something to be said for simply doing things for the good of others. Maybe you’ll wind up enjoying things more as you do them for the sake of others. Maybe you’ll find out that it isn’t so bad, contrary to what you may have thought. And maybe you’ll find a renewed sense of purpose as you try it out. 

So get out there and serve some people. Find a way to use the things you love to do to make a difference in the lives of those around you. I believe that anything that you love can make a splash for the better in this murky world of ours. Sometimes, you just have to be a little creative in how you make that happen. 

So I pray that opportunities reveal themselves to you today, and that you seize them for the greater good of the world.

Until Next Time

May Peace be your Guide.