Yesterday someone gave me a pleasant reprimand for hosting people at my house all the time. They were referring to people who aren't good at being served. I think it was well-intended, but got me to thinking about the why and the how and all of that.
I enjoy it.
Serving, that is.
It feels good to bless others and to see them smiling.
And since I enjoy it, it makes sense to use it in a way that benefits others, not?
It doesn't feel like work or like hard-fought obedience.
Rather, it just is.
And it's good.
This afternoon I was reading a piece out of "Tuesdays with Morrie" and I came across a piece about giving; about making life about others instead of about oneself. It went like this:
"...giving to other people is what makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house. Not what I look like in the mirror. When I give my time, when I can make someone smile after they were feeling sad, it's as close to healthy as I ever feel.
Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."
And I thought to myself, "Amen!"
The key is ensuring that the giving is done for that reason -
the reason of loving my neighbour as myself -
considering others better than myself.
It's not about me.
It's not about my car
(those of you who see my beauty on a regular basis may have pre-determined that part of my philosophy... :) )
Or my house -
Or the frizz and the glasses -
or even the straightened look.
Giving feeds into life.
Into feeling alive.
One of my favourite proverbs has always been:
"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
And I think it holds true as long as I'm not trying to do it in my own strength.
Then I simply get burned out.
But it comes back to that Psalm 29 business.
"The Lord gives strength to His people;
The Lord blesses His people with peace."
Indeed He does.
And in His strength, refreshing others
is an incredible source of refreshment.
Of giving life, even.
"...take hold of the life that is truly life..."
2 comments:
Hey it is Nicole vanLeeuwen, from church. Hope you know who I am. I am reading Tuesdays with Morrie for english class, and that quote has stayed with me in my brain, and realized how hard it is for me to even be somewhat like Morrie, with his outlooks on life. There are few people who can truely appreciate life, and I am pretty sure you are one of those few:)
ha! The oxymoron of the century: pleasant reprimand. (We've been studying oxymorons and paradoxes in English class--if there is a rule that every rule has an exception, is there an exception to that rule? That's a paradox.) Okay I'm done.
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