3 Simple Ways You Can Serve Others

Candace:

I had a prayer that I would pray every day… For years. It was short and it was simple and it went like this:

“Lord, grant me a child and I will raise our child in your house. I will teach my child to have the love of Jesus in their heart and to serve others. Amen”

So this post is not centered on religious beliefs or promises made, rather it is about how to be better. How to live with love in your heart. And more importantly how to serve others.

Let’s back up though and allow me to share a few recent events I have encountered. I was out running errands with Jellybean and found myself struggling to get her bulky stroller through the doors at the department store when I made eye contact with a woman on her phone. She stared back at me through the other side of the glass. She watched as I continued the awkward act of holding one door with my leg while grabbing the other door to get the stroller through so it wouldn’t slam shut. She continued to watch and talk on her phone as I finally made it in. The woman then looked at me and said, “don’t worry you don’t have to hold the door for me.”

Next example.

I made the begrudging pilgrimage to Wal-Mart. On the corner outside of the store was a man standing there with a sign that said “out of work, please help”. Sitting in the grass beside him was his 3 kids and wife. One of the kids was an infant in a stroller.

Last example.

A Facebook post pops up on your feed. It is a couple who is trying to adopt and is raising money to come up with the 30k in adoption expenses it will cost to make them a family. They are asking either to simply share the post on your feed in the hopes a birth mom will come forward or donate a small amount to their family fund.

Chris Interjection:

So all of these examples have what in common? They are the intersection of two different parties in different situations. The question is, if you are one of those parties at an intersection in life what do you do? It is clear if you are the one in need of assistance. Although sometimes it is very difficult to do so … DAMN you pride!!! … you should ask for help. From the first example, what if Candace asked the lady on the phone for help? Would she have turned the other way? Acted offended and get confrontational? Probably not. I am guessing she would have helped. In the second and third examples, pride has been put aside and the first party at the intersection of life has already made the first move, they asked for help.

So now what? You are the other party at the intersection being asked to help. What do you do? Do you help the people in need? Do you comment to yourself how these people are clearly in this situation because of poor decision making? Do you look the other way? Truth be told, I don’t know what the right answer is. I do have an easy solution: follow your kindergarten, biblical, just down-right decent feelings. Cliché alert! Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I know we throw this around a ton, but think about it. How often do we really go about our day with this thought at the forefront of our psyche? If we need to change lanes in traffic and have to cut someone off, guess what, we are going to cut them off. Would we want them to do the same to us? I can’t speak for you but I can say that the explicatives that my steering wheel has experienced would say otherwise.

It’s not easy though. We live and are really taught to have a fairly narrow view in life. “The only way to get ahead is to forge your own path.” “Nothing comes easy in life.” “If you want something, you have to go out there and get it.” Yeah, all of these are true, but there are missing sayings for success that remind us to be cognizant of those around us. There isn’t a “You will be most successful if your success spreads to those around you” comment to cling to.

With all of these narrow-sighted motivators, we are guided to focus inward. But you know what, Candace and I can attest to the power and beauty of being surrounded by people that have shattered this paradigm deciding to care for others. And as a result, we have a 1 year old running around the house! So, my thought, what I am striving to inculcate in my gray matter is this,

“Never be too busy, too self-absorbed, too distracted to neglect seeing and assisting those in need around you.”

“But, I’m broke,” you say. Me too! But there are tons of things that you can do to help others.

Candace Again:

Simply, here are 3 ways to serve others in your daily life:

Time

We all have busy lives. Your time is the greatest gift you can give. Instead of binge watching Orange is the New Black, how about using that time to volunteer? (Check out these RESOLVE Volunteer opportunities here or pick one that speaks to you!)

. Or as you are scrolling through Facebook, take 30 seconds of your time and share a meaningful post that could potential impact the person’s life indefinitely. Think about it, one single post is what brought us and our gestational carrier together.

Money

It is fair to say no one likes to give their money away. Most of us are not “The Donald” and do not have a Scrooge McDuck money vaults hidden in their mansion to do a backstroke in. But we do have a few dollars here and there. Some of us also may favor an occasional Starbucks visit. What if you brewed a cup at home and donated that 5.00 to a couple who is trying to adopt or gave that 5.00 to the family standing outside of Wal-Mart? I bet the long-term feeling you have from that selfless act will be much better than the feeling you have from the temporary caffeine buzz.

Support

It is amazing how impactful a few words of encouragement, an ear to listen, a shoulder to lean on can be to someone in need of uplifting. You will be surprised how much you can help someone by simply showing up at their door and offering to listen to their troubles. If you bring a bottle of wine, well that is just a bonus! A simple card, text, call, private message all of the above can be the light in a dark time they need. And guess what, it doesn’t cost anything to just be there.

I will leave you with this quote:

“Give your hands to serve and your heart to love”

–Mother Teresa 

This was an unassuming woman who changed the lives of millions of people. It all boils down to what is your focus in life? Basically, it is not just what we do that matters, but the personal drive behind our action that makes the difference in other’s lives.

Let us know in the comment section below, how do you plan on serving others? And if you already do, tell us about it so we can all be better stewards!