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“Dear Lord, you sent your son to serve. You sent Him to give His life for me. Let your spirit awaken in me the same spirit of service. Let me not look for position or gain, instead, show me how to let others go before me. Make me meek. Make me humble, so I too, can give my life. Willfully, obediently, and faithfully, even when it hurts. In love, with Christ, and like Christ. In Jesus’s name. Amen”
- prayerforanxiety.com
Service is one of those things that I’ve always felt is a typical part of Christian living, but I had no idea how to implement it into my life. It turned into this huge thing that involved a specific place, set number of hours, and a particular task. Ultimately, it always turned out to be too much to organize, so I just didn’t do it.
Then, after a series of events, I gave up a year of my life to serve with a ministry called NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministry. Shameless plug: Check it out at www.netusa.org. I spent the year serving on a missionary team at a parish in Florida where our ultimate goal was to be a bridge between the youth and the parish. Ironically, during this year service is where I learned how simple service is. Service didn’t look like giving up a year of my life. It looked like doing the dishes for my team when I really didn’t want to or taking time out of my day off to drive my teammates around so that they could also enjoy their days. True service is ultimately an act of love that is born through our relationship with Christ. It is not something that we should do with the intention to ‘feel good’ about ourselves, but rather, to love those around us with the same love that Christ shows us in the washing of the feet.
All too often, we complicate this idea that we are called to serve only thinking of serving in a third world country or giving up months or years of our lives to an organization, which are good things, however, that’s not what most of us are called to.
We are called to serve through, as St. Therese said,
“Doing small things with great love.”
So, what are some ways that you can serve on a daily basis or in your home town?
Here’s a list of seven ideas:
*Take out the trash before your family or roommates gets to it.
*Buy a coffee for a friend
*Offer to help someone
*Sign up to read at mass
*Lend your car to someone who needs it
*Cook a meal for someone
*Volunteer the next time that someone asks for one, and you are capable
All for the greater glory of God, To Jesus through Mary-Alyssa Schimmoeller
