Welcome to Facets, friend. Cinnamon and spice is giving way to peppermint too soon. In a couple weeks many of us will gather with family and friends to count blessings and feast together. Our team adds to the thankful list when you visit and take time to connect here, on Facebook, or face-to-face. This month we remember a thankful heart serves. We’re honored when you engage in the conversation. Thank you!
This November we’re writing about thankfulness and the heart of service that flows from gratitude. You can find Tracy’s post here. And we are over-the-moon-excited to welcome our friend, Megan, this month.
“All you need is love…”¹
“You serve out of who you are,” he said. I (Jennifer, who recently changed my post color from pink to blue) realized my brain cells shifted focus to turn that idea over and over while the radio program faded and continued on in the background. I can’t serve out of who I’m not, I suppose. But serving out of who I am? Normally, this thinking would begin a spiral of introspection toward shame, but not this time. I chose to be compassionate toward me and become more curious than condemning, a new thing I hope to see blossom in my thought life.
I need a fresh reminder of what my God has to say about serving.
My first random act of kindness was in response to the Live Aid telecast in 1985. People in a country I knew nothing about were dying. I was only in high school, but I had to give. Years later I experienced a prompt to be generous for another cause, but it felt different—now I knew the guilt trip thing. Serving others doesn’t always feel the same, I thought. What’s the difference?
We have the opportunity to serve, but how will it look and feel? Is it the cause, the real person representing the need, or something else? I need more than Beatles lyrics to motivate me.
Shiny shoulds, wooden woulds, and tinny cans…
Sometimes I’m disappointed with my insensitivity. When I serve for all the wrong reasons I end up with sickening service or something worse. I easily make a list of reasons I should serve; they’re shiny and make me look good. When I struggle to serve, I have a list of woulds lined up, and I walk down that list teetering on a rickety picket fence. If I want to get over myself, I make a list of cans—but there’s a tinny echo to “I can do this.”
Honest reasons for every season…
How does a woman who loves God serve, and who does she serve?
Serve the LORD with reverential awe
and rejoice with trembling. Psalm 2:11 CSB
Serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs. Psalm 100:2 CSB
It all starts in one place: relationship to the Lord. Why do anything of significance anyway? If it’s all about me, I have the power to make up my own mind and set my own agenda. Sometimes that may come across as kind or even genuine, but deep love comes from the deepest places.
But be sure to fear the LORD and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24 NLT
I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Psalm 116:1 ESV
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 ESV
When I pause to reflect on my God’s loving heart—mercy and grace at the cross—I should be affected. If I’m not, I wonder where my heart is focused. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose—to pay for sin, reconcile us to Holy God, and graciously gift us freedom in this life. If I’m cold toward Him or others, I haven’t thought about the rough-hewn crossbeam and nails. Awe and reverence, trembling joy, gladness, and love are found at the crucifixion, the empty tomb, and the torn curtain (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23). Humility and worship flow out of meditation like that!
Choosing…
Choosing between loving God in serving others and my ugly, self-serving ways is a real struggle. It’s a fight to choose selflessness over self-protection. Knowing the problem is half the battle. Choosing thankfulness and letting my service flow from that is the other half.
Why would I make that choice? Sometimes I choose because it’s the right thing, even if I’m waiting for my feelings to catch up. Sometimes the feelings amplify the calling I know is right.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. Galatians 5:13 CSB
We have freedom of choice. No one forces anything, even God (I like to think the shoulds are outta here!). He knows freely-given love is the only real love there is. Commands in the Bible, not suggestions, are always for our good. The truth is, Plan A for our lives is that we love and glorify Him. If we begin to grasp what He has done for us, what other emotion can we have but thankfulness? Our choosing process changes at that point, doesn’t it?
We are free to choose, but two opportunities fight against serving others in love: self-serving and self-protection.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. ²
Friend, I’m on the choosing road every day. I want this for me, you, and the world:
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10 NLT
Out of thankfulness, how will you serve someone today? Will it require specific talent or giftedness, or will you need to grow in thankfulness and engage your heart?
What to do? What to do?
Some ideas for serving in this season might be—
- Volunteer with or support your local homeless shelter (PADS is one in this directory)
- Carry an “essentials bag” to give away (Homeless Backpack Network)
- Find a coat drive in your area to help people stay warm (One Warm Coat is one)
- Organizations collect new toys for Christmas (Toys for Tots is one)
- Support an organization caring for children (CAFO, Safe Families, or others)
- Serve your church’s mission through ministry
These aren’t the only opportunities. I would love for our readers to start a list below or at our Facebook Page. Let’s help each other be creative in our service in this season and every season. We need ideas for spring, summer, fall, and winter, friends!
¹ “All You Need is Love.” Lennon-McCartney. 1967.
² “The Road Not Taken.” Robert Frost. 1916.