SERVICE: THE ONLY PATH TO TRUE GREATNESS.

"Everyone can be great because everyone can serve. You don't have to have a college education to serve. You only need a heart full of grace."— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Service is the very purpose of life. 

It is a symbol of the primordial bond among mankind as a whole. Faithful service has a life of its own; and thus it is life-giving to the fortunate ones who cheerfully and generously serve others for good.

This week is about love; and it is about the labour of love. The emotional labour of taking positive actions to create value for others in this small planet called, Earth; to do for posterity what our forbearers did for us. It is about giving enduring meaning to our lives. It is about giving back as much as we have received. 

Whoever we are, wherever we may be, for us to be alive right now, someone earlier did something for our wellbeing. We did not give birth to ourselves and certainly we didn’t fall off from the sky. The Creator, the Source of all good, breathed life into us to exist at all. Everything we enjoy from day one is due to His Infinite Grace.

For a long time, we have received the supports of many people to cater for our endless needs, so now is the high time we began thinking in reverse: to give back in return; to make the world a better place than we met it; to build the necessary foundations for the good our progenies— for the good of all.

Now is the time to think about service; now is the time to think about love.

ANDREW CARNEGIE: THE SERVANT LEADER

The more you serve and share, the more you will have. 

This simple philosophy made a poor Scottish boy became one the richest men in the world; Andrew Carnegie is his name.

For the first half of his productive life, he lived this philosophy through contribution of useful service to mankind; and for the remaining half of his life he served generations yet unborn with generous and intelligent use of his great wealth.

Before he passed away at the ripe age of 83, Andrew was able to give away millions of dollars through trusts, foundations and grants. His contribution to knowledge through the establishment of libraries is an existing evidence of a mind earnestly concerned about our progress today.

If he could, why can’t we? 

I believe this is a question we all need to repeatedly ask ourselves.

And now let’s find out the antidote to the pain of the heart…

SERVICE IS THE ANSWER TO PAIN: EMOTIONAL PAIN

“The best way to find yourself is to loose yourself in the service of others.”— Mohandas Gandhi

Do you fear life? 

Have you been giving a raw deal?

Are you in the middle of a slump?

Are you going through hell?

Or, are you battling depression?

If you answer yes to any of those questions, know that somebody feels your pain and that’s why I am motivated to write this piece. 

The above advice given by Ghandhi is the answer to all those questions. 

The answer to pain is purpose; and service is the greatest meaning of purpose. Service is the ultimate purpose of life. Therefore, the best answer to pain of the heart is service.

The books of history remind us time and again that: to live is to serve, and to thrive is to find meaning in the service; that true success is noble labour.

If you agree but not sure where to start. Then listen to what Dennis Merritt Jones, the author of The Art of Being has to tell you:

"Take a few moments to contemplate the question 'What gifts do I bring to share with my Earth family?' Go within and take an emotional scan or inventory of all the qualities that make you who you are. Today, commit to seeking new ways to open up the gift you are by sharing it with others."

So, find a cause greater than you and give yourself wholly to it; and when the focus changes from you to others, your life automatically changes direction from lack to abundance. Purposeful service is the best safeguard against inanition.

You, like every great person, can help others by sharing a part of yourself. Interestingly, you don’t have to be rich or powerful to serve. Wherever you are and whoever you may be, you can create inside yourself a burning desire to be helpful to others. 

No matter how poor and deprived you think you are! 

How is that? You may ask…

And I will answer by telling you this:

Your most valuable possessions are invariably free and intangible; your heart, your mind, your talents, your insights, your emotions. These are the things that make you unique and irreplaceable.

They are not diminished by sharing, rather, they are multiplied. No one can take them from you. No one can withhold them from service but you. Only you can choose to generously share or to parsimoniously suppress.

Decide to serve today and see the miracle of service pay a grand visit to you in the future.

THE PARADOX OF SERVICE

Develop a mania to help others. Give people more than they expect to receive. Share yourself without expecting an immediate reward in return, and if you do this, you will set in motion the powers of a universal law; the Law of Compensation according to the great philosopher: Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Dare to share the good you have and you shall grow bigger and better than you already are. As Zig Ziglar eloquently put it: “You can have everything you want, if you will help enough other people get what they want.”

This is the secret behind the great riches of Andrew Carnegie. This is the secret behind the rise of all great men of the world. This is the only path to true greatness. 

Steve Jobs thoroughly understood this great truth and lived by it. His legacy is an unquestionable proof of this fact and his words illustrated it even more clearly. Here they are:

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we have done something wonderful, that’s {all} what matters to me.”

All that mattered to him was that each and every night, he had done something wonderful. That he had done enough during the day to serve his fellow men. That he had given a little more to realize his goal of making the world a better place to live. That he had done his best to serve. 

This begs for a deep thought on our part!

Not surprisingly, the paradox of service manifested in his life the same way it did for Andrew Carnegie: He made Apple Inc. one of the most valuable companies in the world, thereby earning influence and wealth for himself that were enjoyed by only very few men on earth.

Serve generously first and be rewarded abundantly later. This is the paradox of service. And Napoleon Hill also confirmed this truth when he said:

“There is but one dependable method of accumulating and legally holding riches, and that is by rendering useful service.”

Therefore, if we are discerning, we can see that rendering useful service to our fellow men is not really a sacrifice at all but a short-term forfeiture for a rich future blessings for us and our family. 

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

"If you ask me for a motto: Here it is: SERVICE"— Albert Schweitzer

If this article has goaded you to decide serving better, then my effort is not in vain. It has definitely goaded me to do so. And here are some of the mottoes I have created in response to the advice of Dr. Luther:

To carefully fulfill my duties to God and my country, my family, my brethren and the rest of human family with justice and truth.

To work assiduously in creating value for others while creating a lifestyle that is undergirded by sublime ethics and lofty ideals of living.

To be loyal to all whom loyalty is due and strive to the best of my capacity not to needlessly hurt any living creatures around me.

I hope this little composition will inspire someone today and in the future to imbibe the virtue of righteousness; the virtue of service.

Greatness is never an accident but the result of intentionally living daily by the philosophy of dutiful service to our Creator and humanitarian service to our fellow men. 

And the basic requirement is nothing but this: a heart full of grace.