By Dr. Sandy Islands for Conch Color
Have you ever found yourself resenting those daily or weekly chores that have to be done? Do you think about other family members and how they could be helping, but they aren’t? I found myself in that position this past week. While emptying the cat litter box and taking out the garbage, I turned into the martyr. “Why am I the only one…why don’t they…. etc?” I got into my car a short time later to go to work and the song from a new movie, “The Moses Code,” was playing. It’s the St. Francis of Asisi prayer to music that says, “Seek to be an instrument of peace. Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, seek to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that I receive...” I realized that I could view my chores from the higher road. Every moment can be an opportunity to serve. Later that day, I was watching another inspiring movie called, “The Ultimate Gift,” where a young selfish man going after an inheritance receives the gifts of work, friends, family, learning, laughter, giving and gratitude to name a few.” A Bob Dylan song played in the soundtrack, “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re going to have to serve somebody…”
Acts of goodwill are doing the right things for the right reasons. They are the counter actions for self-centeredness and invite us to think not what we can get, but what we can give. Service to others takes the focus off of ourselves. Getting involved helps develop self-esteem, confidence and helps us find gratitude. Talents we discover in service may propel us forward into more education, better jobs and better places to live. It’s important to check our motives to avoid resentment. If we’re doing service to impress others, show our talents, be recognized as important or expect rewards in return, we may not receive the benefits and growth that come from living a deeply meaningful life. The highest aspiration of the human heart is to make a difference in the world and make a lasting contribution. Our Egos can never get enough money, toys, sex or love. We mistakenly pursue these things trying to find satisfaction and happiness, but as any recovering addict can tell you… “One is too many and a thousand never enough.” Our spiritual emptiness cannot be filled with outside things, but it can be filled through a relationship with a Power greater than our minds and personalities and through service. Do we want to live in a world of taking and being taken, or giving and being given?
“Pay it Forward,” was a movie that outlined how to perform random acts of kindness. By freely sharing with others what’s been given to us we contribute to the world at large. Let’s ignore what’s wrong with the world and know that any act of service, no matter how small to lift the spirits of just one person can and will make a difference. Simply by smiling at someone who’s frowning, letting someone into traffic when we’re in a hurry, or calling someone just to say we care opens the door into the realm of the extraordinary. We can change the world by starting with someone sitting right next to us. Imagine that any act of kindness multiplies because it costs us nothing but may be priceless to our receiver.
As messengers of God, we’re freed from self-obsession and concentrate on the needs of others. We can begin to look at everything we do as an act of service, from our jobs that serve the community, to chores we do at home for our families, to volunteering; we work to serve humanity. Service expands our world and brings new friends into our lives. God doesn’t call on the qualified; God qualifies those who are called. “Are we listening?”
Please write to Dr. Sandy Islands at sandyislands@hawaii.rr.com and feel free to browse previous articles at www.sandyislands.com under publications.