The Happy Life of a Servant

You and I have been told over and over that the more you serve others the happier you are, and you have probably been as skeptical about that statement as I have. Let's face it as a general rule we are pretty much self serving people. So through the years when I've allowed myself to be guided by the Holy Spirit instead of myself I've found myself in positions where it's been proven to me that it is really true, the life of a servant is a happy life.

Yesterday I went and visited an older lady in our Church named Lucille. She has been struggling physically and hasn't been able to attend the services for quite awhile. She has been through quite a bit in her life and as I was driving to her house I was praying (with my eyes open of course) that I would have the right words to say to encourage her and lift her spirits. Turns out God must have been fairly amused with my self-centered prayer. You might be saying, that doesn't sound like a self-centered prayer, well it was, because that very prayer just assumed that I would be the one doing the encouraging as if I'm the great glorious encourager and she is the poor down-trodden soul who needs my wonderful abilities. I'm exaggerating a bit here because of course that is not what I was thinking but instead of asking God to use this situation for His glory, I assumed that she was the one who needed the blessing.

You probably know the rest of the story, I walked in and while she looked pretty frail, the only thing I noticed was how happy she seemed. She talked to me of how blessed she has been with so many great neighbors, and friends, and family members and church members. She talked of all the opportunities she has had in her life to help and bless others. We talked about her beloved El Camino that she gave to her brother, and her family; we talked about the paintings on her wall, and many other things. She never stopped smiling through the entire visit, and I was reminded again of how when you start out with the idea of serving someone, often you are the one who gets the greatest blessing.

Thank you Lucille for your wonderful outlook and your beautiful spirit and thank you God for reminding me that to serve is to be happy and blessed. We don't serve for that reason of course but it is a result of our service to God and to others.