12-6-20 Do Something!

“If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.  You are not that important.” – Quote

If one thing the COVID pandemic has taught all of us it’s how to think outside the box.

The “normal” way of doing things got thrown right out the window.  We figured out how to do work meetings, doctor appointments, school, church, music lessons, Thanksgiving, traveling, art clubs, and exercise classes using our devices.  We shocked ourselves and proved to be a very resilient people.  We put our thinking caps on and adapted in many ways.

But another neat thing that happened was that we had to be creative about how we could help and support others.  My great-grandma’s assisted living home posted pictures of their residents with signs online to let their loved ones know they were okay.  Many of my friends used Amazon to gift strangers with surprise wish list items that they needed.  Families planned drive-by birthday parades through neighborhoods.  We had a friend that even did some live music performances in their driveway to raise money to bless nurses at a local hospital.

Our family doesn’t do New Years resolutions and instead focuses on words of the year to keep us focused for 365 days.  I can only laugh about it now because my word this year was “serve”.  I thought 2020 was about leading multiple teams on mission trips to Guatemala – ha…I wasn’t able to go even once!  But I couldn’t just give up on my word.  I had to ask God to help me think outside the box.  Mission trips?  Canceled.  Prison ministry?  Canceled.  Youth group?  Canceled.  Women’s Conference?  Canceled.  Turns out he knew what was going to happen in 2020 (no surprise to him!) and that I was going to be taken way out of my comfort zone to serve in new ways.

The point of all that is to say – don’t let a “No” stop you from helping others.  To quote the first line of the popular book called, “The Purpose Driven Life”, it’s not about you.  Contrary to many messages we see in our world, life is not meant to be lived to make yourself happy.  It’s not about how you can serve yourself or come out ahead or how you can move up the ladder or how much you can take, take, take.  It’s about being others focused rather than self focused. 

Because here’s why.  Happiness is fleeting.  Our moods change like the weather.  Up one day, down the next.  When we focus on trying to please ourselves or put ourselves #1, we may get that happy feeling for a moment but then it’s gone.  It never feels like enough.  So then we want more.  We look for new ways to make ourselves happy.  It becomes this constant battle to try to get more, more, more.

When we serve others, something special happens.  We see the bigger picture.  We find purpose in the mundane.  We realize that life isn’t about us at all!  It’s about blessing others and making life better for others.  When you start living life this way and teach your children to live this way, the world instantly becomes a better place – and not because you’re in it – but because it was always meant to be a place to show love to others.  We should constantly be looking for opportunities to make others smile rather than ourselves.

We are not the center of the universe.  If we live like we are, we will wake up one day and go, whoah, where did everybody go?  Where’s all my friends?  Where’s my family?  No one wants to be around someone that makes life all about them.  Another translation of Galatians 6:3 says it this way, “If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.”  We were not created to make sure only all of our needs are being met.

So how can we serve others?  How can we teach our children and grandchildren to be world focused?  By surrounding ourselves and our families with people who do.  Find those people in your life that “do” the stuff.  You don’t have to create something new.  Just join forces with someone who already has an idea or has created a group or platform to serve.  Support them.  One time, I had a heart for serving a needy city not too far from where we lived.  I found out about a local teacher named Tamara.  After driving through the same city a year before I got the nudge, God had gotten a hold of her heart and she had started a now annual event called “One Week. One Street.”  Her initiative was to bless one street for one week, completely run by volunteers and donations.  There are many such organizations out there.  Ask around and you will definitely them!

Your tribe attracts your vibe.  Who are you doing life with?  What does your tribe do to affect the world?

Support.  Donate.  Volunteer.  But do something!