Serving Is a Two-Sided Gift

When I first think or hear the word "serving," I immediately think of my own service in Mothers of Preschoolers ("MOPS") and in the children's ministries program of our church.  Then my mind begins to wander, and a conversation at my Bible study a few days ago came to mind.  There were only four of us there, and we were sharing from our hearts.  One of them asked what my parents were like and did they teach me to be the servant that my friends see.  I had to answer that it had not been watching my parents or hearing them talk about serving.  In fact, it was a surprise to my brothers and me to learn during our mother's early 80s that she had been a volunteer for 40 years.  It wasn't something that had been made known to us.  We knew she had taught Sunday School, but this volunteering was with a state agency for those who were mentally challenged.  She was even up for Volunteer of the Year for the State of Tennessee!  I will never know why she didn't share that part of the Good News with us.  I was saddened that it had been hidden all that time.

Perhaps knowing that and reading God's Word worked together to bring me to this passionate need to reach out and touch others.  One of the tenets of the MOPS program is intentional relationship building and as mentor moms, we are asked to reach out a hand to the young moms in our group.  A touch on the back or shoulder can be the simplest of acts, but it really does let that mom know she is loved.  And isn't loving all about who God is?  How simple it is to pass along the message of love.

I'm dating myself now.  In the 1970s and 1980s, Diana Ross had a popular song on the charts, and the refrain goes:

"Reach out and touch

Somebody's hand

Make this world a better place

If you can

Reach out and touch

Somebody's hand

Make this world a better place

If you can."



Songwriters: Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.

Those words have always resonated with me because it doesn't take much to "make this world a better place."  Why don't we all try to do that today, tomorrow, and the next day, and on and on . . . . .