Power of Serving Others

I've been in reading bliss recently, especially as we got close to 20 books brought over to us by some friends who volunteered at our mission meeting a few weeks ago. The most recent is The Power of Serving Others by Gary Morsch and Dean Nelson. It seems, although I may be mistaken, that most of the stories come from Gary, the founder and president of Heart to Heart International.

The book can really be summed up by these following three principles, which are found throughout all of the accounts given by the authors:

1. Everyone has something to give.
2. Most people are willing to give when they see the need and have the opportunity.
3. Everyone can do something for someone right now.

Let me just throw some great quotes your way. If I don't give a source then it's from the authors...

"...melancholy could be cured in fourteen days if 'you try to think every day how you can please someone.'" Psychiatrist Alfred Adler

"The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

"The test is not what you can do in the aftermath of a hurricane. It's what you can do for the widow next door or the single parent on your street." (authors referring to need being constant...not just when major disasters occur)

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." Mother Teresa

"True peace, the high and abiding peace that passeth all understanding, is to be had not in retreat from the battle, but only in the thick of the battle." Frederick Buechner

"Sometimes we get paralyzed by the world's problems and needs and how inadequate we are to solve them. But we can all do something, no matter how small."

"If you are not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."

"Everyone carries with them at least one and probably many pieces to someone else's puzzle. Sometimes they know it; sometimes they don't know it. And when you present your piece, which is worthless to you, to another, whether you know it or not, whether they know it or not, you are a messenger from the Most High." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

There's some serious good stuff here. I'm going to dedicate another entry to a rather extensive set of thoughts/principles that I enjoyed chewing on for awhile (maybe tomorrow or Friday). But just with these above quotes in mind I am challenged to think more seriously about the needs which are right in front of my face and figure out tangible ways that I can meet those needs.

Ministry, meeting the needs of people, is something that doesn't happen much here in Poznan. There are a couple of ministries which are really reaching out, touching peoples' lives...but on the whole we're pretty much inwardly focused, believer-sensitive if you know what I mean. And I am pretty sure that this hunch is true, that until we begin moving our attention to the meeting of peoples' needs, especially those outside of the church, we are not going to see much growth.

Pick this book up if you're interested. It's really not, at least seemingly, directed to the church crowd although there are many many obvious Christian overtones (how could you talk about meeting peoples' needs apart from Christ??!!). But it will challenge you no matter who you are and how much you are already involved in ministry. And maybe those challenges are what we need to embrace our true calling as believers, moving outside of ourselves and our pursuits of meeting our own needs to focusing our life and energies on meeting the needs of the people around us.

More to come...