Power of Serving..."Anyways"

I wanted to give special attention to this list of "Anyways". While they appear in this book they are actually attributed to Kent Keith, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments.

People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered.
Love them anyway

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

The authors add this:

Keith says that these commandments focus on something other than what the culture seems to value (celebrity, influence, money). Instead, the focus is on helping, loving, improving, persevering, looking out for those who can't look out for themselves. It is a change in focus, he claims, from looking inward to looking outside of ourselves. When we make a difference in the lives of others, he says, we make our own lives different -- for the better.

That's good stuff, isn't it? It's really easy to get wrapped up in all the junk that the world holds dear. And that means that it's really easy, as well, to lose sight of all of the things that Christ held dear as he lived on this big hunk of rock. Servanthood was at the very center of his life and as followers of Christ we should be emulating him with everything in us...thus we should be servants to the core as well. These "anyways" should just serve to remind us that even when circumstances don't lean in our favor we are called, challenged to live in Christ anyway!

Do you really serve people? Or do you serve yourself? Do you really see people? Or do you just see yourself? When you see needs do you do something to meet them or just keep moving on as if nothing was wrong? Trust me, I'm asking myself these same questions (and more). And I have to be honest...I'm not too thrilled with my answers.