dailydatewithgod

I was raised in a Catholic household and was taught to live the principle of serving others.  Getting into recovery years later I learned what being of service truly meant.  The kind of service I practiced growing up was as another element of approval seeking. It wasn’t as though I didn’t genuinely want to help others but I thought I was supposed to do so in order to show God I really believed.  My interpretation of the message was a little skewed.  I was in such desperate need of approval, I would have used anything.  I remember literally giving several sheets of paper to a fellow student who asked to borrow one because that was my way of giving my coat when asked for my shirt.  I didn’t understand that being of service is two-fold. It is to be an extension and expression of love.  It does not come from a place of lack or approval seeking.  The point of being of service is to live out a faith in a power that provides for me and giving is my way of being the love I am at my core.  Being of service I learned is not about me. It is about thought of the other.  It is about seeing God in the other, not something to check off a list of being good for the day.  I am able to be of service because I believe God is taking care of me and I am free to be an extension and expression of God.