Be fluid. Be mobile. Sway a little. Serve one another. Approach people with generosity. When there are differences, learn to identify more, and learn to compare less. Be introspective. Consider others more than yourself. So, these are just a few of the ideas that I’ve encountered from really smart people in this last week alone. How wonderful to have so many smart people in my life. Thank God for this blessed community making their way through their journey, and taking their time to share their findings with me.
I see a common thread that ties these ideas together: servanthood. Reflecting on the idea of “serving”, it is amazing to see how much mileage I can get from being an authentic servant. There really is traction with this behavior - I saw it break down bad vibes between people and builds wonderful bridges just this past week.
Lets not confuse the beautiful act of serving with degrading terms like human-door-mats, or self-imposed-martyrs. There is quite a difference between these terms and authentic service. For example: door-mats lack confidence and grace. They simply lie there, mute, mostly useless, and they do not explore creative ways to care for feet...it simply receives mud and dirt. Self-Imposed-martyrdom is really a misnomer. Martyrdom is when you are killed for your religious beliefs - always inflicted by someone else. The thought of “Self-imposed-martyrdom” is a disgusting insult to the likes of early religious people like Andrew, Peter, or Bartholomew who was skinned alive for worshipping Christ and not the Roman Emperor. The thought of self-imposed-martyrdom is really selfishness; seeking some kind of greedy gain in a twisted sort of way.
Neither of these descriptions portray serving at all. Genuine servanthood is done graciously, with sincere care. One will find authentic love, humility, and grace at the root of serving. I have the opportunity on a regular basis to see my beautiful wife serve me and our family with amazing creations for dinner. She busily works in the kitchen adding backyard grown herbs to a fancy chicken roast, or calling in neighborhood kids to enjoy their first homemade enchilada and avocado salad at a dining table with a complete family. This is serving: she shares her talent with genuine grace and care with her family and her neighbors.
Reading ancient scripture, I learn how the greatest servant ever, Jesus Christ, explains the greatest form of love. He says it is to “lay ones life down for a friend”. The depth of this statement for me is that the “laying down” part doesn’t mean to stop breathing and die - as if you shoved someone out of the way from a bus, to take the impact yourself. While that too can be love, here I understand it to mean the daily choosing to share (or give) your whole life to a friend...perhaps your spouse or neighbor...so that you might meet their needs in a caring and loving way. Choosing to set my life aside for a friend, put on a smile while doing it, and find joy in that act of giving is quite a different way to operate than say....the kids at Paddy's pub in Philadelphia. Without this choice, smile, or joy, I miss the fuel needed to perpetuate that way of life - I am running on my strength and not the strength that joy offers.
It would be nice to see this sort of thinking in our mainstream world. How common it is to focus on my own needs and my own gain. How frequent it is to have thoughts of what I need and create methods on how to meet them. I caught myself wondering what our human race what be like if we genuinely served our neighbors and friends. If but for a day, how would my community become different if I choose to pursue just one person and made sure to respectfully meet their real needs.... then two persons... then three...
I don’t wish to ponder on a utopian world that has everyone serving one another and then share it as a fairy tale story. This is because I would rather not waste my time living on this earth considering a “what if” scenario. Instead, I was pleasantly reminded by a dear friend to actually “do” this kind of life: To really pursue a life of serving “my friend” and to approach people with all kinds of generosity.
And, here it goes~
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