Service with a Smile

Service with A Smile- by Warren Mainard

     As a teenager, I could really drive my parents crazy!  I was often irresponsible, lazy, and unmotivated.  So, it was especially maddening to them when I would go spend a day or a week with my church youth group feeding the hungry, working with Habitat for Humanity, or cleaning someone's yard, only to be so reluctant to come home and "do my chores."
     While they were proud of my desire to serve others, the would ask…

"How can you get so ambitious in serving others, and yet be so averse to doing the same tasks at home?"

    It's a great question isn't it?  I have asked myself that same question many times since then.  I have discovered that serving others unlocks a chamber of joy in our hearts like nothing else. I would like to share three reasons why service brings a smile… and how you can unlock the joy of serving others as well!

1. Service draws us into the most meaningful stories.
     Since I started serving in Bellevue, I have been overwhelmed by the stories of some of the people I have had the opportunity to either serve, or serve with…

'J'- a man with a very rough past who is now growing as a leader in Bellevue as the manager of the Heart and Home thrift store.  Since serving with him at the Heart and Home thrift store, I have shared meals with him and his family both at my house and at his.  In fact, his kids and my kids have become great friends.

'C'- a 20 year old former gang member from Southern California who is now serving as the director for an after school program for all of the Bellevue middle schools and has been instrumental in seeing hundreds of kids change the direction of their lives.

'M'- an African man who made it to America despite tremendous odds, got a college education, and now influences both children and leaders through the garden in his back yard.

When we serve others and with others, we open ourselves up to enter into one another's stories.  When this happens, their is a relational depth that is shared that brings meaning and substance to the work that we are doing.

2.  Service gives meaning to our story. 
     When I stop to consider why I have been given the opportunities, the education, and the jobs and resources I enjoy, I am convinced that it is not merely for only my own well being and satisfaction.  All the things that have been entrusted to me in this life are a gift… and it is in the realization that these things are a gift that I find the freedom to give to others.  Giving of my time, effort or resources is not a sacrifice when I consider the time, effort, and resources that have been invested in me over my 37 years!  I am not doing anything extraordinary by serving others, I am just passing on what I have been given. 
     Similarly, even our greatest hardships and trials can be used as a way to serve and encourage others.  For the divorced single Mom, your story finds meaning when you serve single Moms.  For the cancer survivor, you have a story waiting to be told.  For the one who has lost a loved one, you are just the one to encourage those in a similar position.  By serving others out of the crucible of our hardest trials, we find the greatest meaning and reward.

3.  Service joins us in a Divine story.
     Let us make no mistake… our default position in life is always to drift toward comfort and self satisfaction.  It is a part of our human nature.  Yet, when we move toward service and putting others ahead of ourselves, it taps into a divine instinct that lays latent within us all.  When this divine instinct is awakened, it produces a reservoir of joy that is unmistakable and undeniable and unattainable apart from service.

These are the reasons why I am so passionate about serving.  These are the reasons why I serve with a smile.  This is why I invite you to serve as well.  Not out of obligation, guilt, or duty… but rather so that by serving you might be able to…

Enter into the most meaningful stories…
Bring meaning to your own story…
Join in the Divine story.

Find your place to serve, and when you do, serve with a smile.

Warren Mainard is the lead pastor of Essential Church, a new church with a relentless commitment to demonstrating love through service.  If you would like to find out more about Essential Church, please visit- www.essentialchurch.cc