He Who Does It Unto the Least of These.....

                                                          SERVING OTHERS

Matthew 20:28     Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many people. 

Every community setting we have served in, we notice a common thread.  That thread is not over powering or wide, but rather bold and silent.  It is the thread of entitlement.  "Hey, I deserve that, I want that, let me have it first, I'm #1!  These are common things you hear after people are in community settings who are well taken care of.  Often, you ask yourself, what can prevent that?   The solution we have noticed that works BEST is a 5 letter word....

                                                                  SERVE

Putting the focus on others, their needs, their hurts and cares can turn a self-centered heart inside out with compassion and a desire to do something about what they see.  All of a sudden, they don't see the need to be #1, they put others first, they even give what has been given to them away!  It's the beginning of creating missionaries at home. Everyone is usually in awe when the foreign missionaries come and do a slide show with stories that seem unbelievable.  There really is plenty to be done right under our feet in our own communities.   

We seek to weekly serve our community here at Lifeway Haven.  We know the ladies are blessed here and we want them always grateful and ever focusing outward.  They have begun serving in many ways.  Several home cooked meals have enter the homes of those grieving over a loss of a loved one, surgery recovery, or to just simple bless others.  They see the value of sacking the vegetables at a local food bank because we receive some of those very vegetables every other Wednesday AM and bring them to Lifeway to cook from.  One morning, we met a ministry at the local bus station and handed out a bag with essentials and ladies clothing for those released from prison in men's clothing.  We pumped hot REAL coffee into their cups for the first time in YEARS.  The gratitude returned was worth all the long hours of waiting and shooing off pimps wanting to get a quick catch of a woman in desperation!  Our most recent service was cooking, serving, and cleaning for 65 at a Celebrate Recovery Program we attend weekly.  The ladies cooked homemade desserts and a meal that fed everyone with little left over.  Happy does not describe their countenances.  They were FULL of joy and never complained.  I remembered that they had only recently received their first pillow, had a private shower with a door, able to live in air conditioning, and had the freedom to make a menu, cook, and buy the groceries with me.

Like many of our diseases we face, entitlement has a vaccination that is found in God's Word and that is to Serve as unto the Lord himself.  This Saturday, we are working in a local retail store that sells to the community and provides food by the pallets to organizations who need large bulk amounts.  When we return home from serving, we are learning an art project to hand out to all those who have served us with discounts, donations, or helped us in some way.  The girls are catching on well and we love serving along side of them to bless others. Remember, that if you find yourself OR your children feeling entitled, the cure is to SERVE!!!!!!!!!