How Service Steered Me to Happiness
By Jessica Brodie
There’s a myth many of us have, once we grow up and start having families, about our younger years—those pre-kid, pre-responsibility years. We look back fondly, remembering how we used to be able to just jump in the car and take a spur-of-the-moment road trip, or stay out as late as we wanted, carefree and happy, unsaddled with the often-heavy burdens of adulthood.
Yet when I take an honest look back at those years, they weren’t really so carefree, or happy. Back then, I would over-analyze everything, consumed by worry and comparisons. Most days, driven by some phantom need to “prove myself,” I didn’t really like my own company. I had more time to myself, sure, but I’d fritter it away on nonsense.
When I became a mom, I was suddenly extraordinarily busy… yet extraordinarily happy. I was happier, in fact, than I’d ever been. It wasn’t just new-mommy hormones or falling in love with that sweet baby, either.
It was the new perspective I’d gained—that, and I didn’t have time anymore to be self-absorbed.
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See, before kids, I was only truly responsible for one person: Me. So if I had an atrocious hair day, felt sensitive about a personal slight, or something rotten happened at work, I had the luxury of far too much time to dwell on my emotions.
After kids, I still experienced snubs and work woes (and most definitely bad hair days!), but I was too busy to spend much emotional time and energy on anything besides the priorities: taking care of my kiddos and myself.
I learned an important truth in that busy season: I can’t worry much about my own problems and stresses if I’m too busy taking care of others.
All that worry, comparison, and over-analyzing? Poof—gone! Who has time for that? Prove myself? Please—I’m too busy trying to feed people, change diapers, and get everyone out the door on time.
Now, I’m not saying we should be too busy in life. There is a delicate balance, and many times we are so busy that we miss out on quiet moments with God or beautiful opportunities to be His instrument in the world. But too much idle time can cultivate self-absorption, at least for me.
God commands us to do His work in the world. As Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:2-3, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
And, as He said in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
Go. Do. Serve. Love.
This is echoed throughout the New Testament:
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13-14).
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
Loving with action, helping other people, can take many forms. It can be caring for your family or feeding the homeless. It can be volunteering at the library or packing shoeboxes for kids in need overseas.
Serving others serves God, but it brings along the bonus gift of taking my focus off me and onto the world—the mission field—around me, which brings me into better connection with God.
When I focus on service over self, I find freedom.
Today’s topic, “service over self,” is included in the free mini book I created to help people shrug off their worries and center themselves in the Lord. Called A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed, the book is free for anyone who signs up for my weekly blog. Learn more and get your copy here. (If you are already a blog subscriber but haven’t gotten your copy, just email me and I’ll send it to you.)
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