The Purpose Of Service
Recently I have had the joy of reconnecting with a group of spiritually-minded friends who I have not seen for some time. Our relationship goes back a long way, 1993 in fact, and spending time together was as joyous as slipping into a favourite pair of comfortable slippers—warm, familiar and deliciously comforting.
As we gathered together in devotional prayer, the spiritual gathering concluded with a reading on the topic of service. It was a great reminder to me that every day, each one of us serves. No matter who we are, our lives involve serving others.
In fact, when we take stock of our day, the majority of our time involves service in some shape or form. For instance, preparing food or driving children to and from school. Whether we are washing, sweeping or working—we are serving.
Service is not restricted to community service. Service is part of everyday life!
Making the most of service
More often than not, most of us begrudge the daily service activities that we need to undertake, believing that we could be doing better things with our time. Sometimes we feel angry, resentful that we have to serve or we feel that our partner gets off lightly when it comes to helping with the kids and chores in the home.
Each day we are presented with an opportunity to turn every day acts of service into acts of love and devotion.
How?
This can be achieved by focusing on the end goal. To do this, ask yourself, “Through this act, who am I serving?”
Whilst it may appear that we are helping others, we are, in fact, serving The Divine. As the energy of Divine Love is in each one of us, then each act of service is ultimately serving Divine Love. That is who we really are serving!
This being the case, if we think of the end goal as we go about our activities, we become more conscious of Divine Love in our daily lives. With this shift in awareness, our attitude towards what we are doing, changes. Focusing on the bigger picture helps us to serve seeing the oneness and connectedness that we have with all. Mentally and emotionally, we feel we have a sense of purpose to our lives for we see that even the mundane chores have a higher purpose to them; spiritually we move closer towards our goal of self-realisation.
Service is the highest spiritual exercise. When we serve with love and in consciousness of The Divine we sanctify our lives.
How best can we serve?
With:
- A pure heart
- A selfless attitude
- Gratitude
- Good feelings
Even though many of the acts of service that we do daily may seem mundane, holding the right attitude toward them is the key. Focus on: through this act I am serving The Divine.
Another point to be aware of is, if the feeling of love is missing, our acts of service hold little value. We are simply carrying out actions without heart.
Whether the service activity we undertake is big or small—the love we impart as we serve—is what matters most.
Love All Serve All
Keep life simple, love those whom you come into contact with daily and serve them with love.
If we take to heart and follow this one principle we enjoy life more and, most importantly, live life with purpose!
Service pays well
No matter how much money we may have in our bank account—it’s not transferrable when we pass from this earthly plane. However, our bank account of love comes with us.
Service—whether it’s through everyday chores or community service—is the highest act of love. It pays big dividends and high interest.
Therefore, love to serve and serve to love!
This month, as you engage in your everyday acts of service, focus on the end goal. Say to yourself: “Through this act I am serving The Divine.” Turn everyday actions into acts of love and devotion.
Here is a lovely video of animals that are very willing to love and serve!