Monday, January 14, 2013

It’s not all about YOU!

“If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and he will repay you!”  ~ Proverbs 19:17

Want the best therapy in the world to take you mind off yourself and your issues?  Go serve the poor!   We wallow in our self-pity about this, that, or the other thing and totally forget that the world is not all about us. People are lonely.  They are hungry.  They are unloved.  They are unwanted by the world.   We have SO much to be thankful for.  Forget about yourself for a bit and share the love of Jesus by serving others.  It will take your mind off of your problems real quick! 

This morning, my son and his buddy and I volunteered at our church's food ministry feeding the poor and homeless.  I do not mean to boast about my good deed for the day, but want to share my experience and maybe inspire you to serve in some way as well.  You will get so much more out of it than you give – which makes me feel kind-of guilty! 
One of my happy places is serving the poor.  I also will admit that I feel a little guilty about serving the poor because although I am doing it to share the love of Jesus as we are instructed to do in the Bible, I get so much gratification out of it that I feel almost ashamed of myself.  It fills me!  It makes me overflow with JOY by being a servant and that repayment is enough for me.  There is a great big world out there full of people who need food, clothing, shelter, but most of all - to experience the LOVE of Jesus.  When these people come for nourishment and you smile and say hello, it may be just enough to brighten their day.  Even if just for that moment you help them feel the love of Jesus pouring out through you, isn’t that enough?  You know, that “… love your neighbor as yourself” part that is so easy to overlook.  Put others before yourself and see what happens.  Being a vessel is the coolest thing ever!    

Also, I want my kids to see that there is a hurting world out there and we all need to do our part to grow the Kingdom by telling the world about Jesus.  And through our acts of kindness, hopefully my kids experience Jesus flowing through them.

Now, please go out and serve! J

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”  by Mother Theresa
 

2 comments:

  1. I LOVE this post! What a truth that so often we forget.... sometimes the answers to our hurt is to get the focus off ourselves. Thank you for setting that example. As a mother especially, it's a blessing. Love this!! Thank you for linking up!! :)

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  2. This is a great post. The fact that you get so much satisfaction out of serving just shows that you truly have a servant's heart. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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