Our purpose is to love, serve and remember the presence of God. Of the three activities, service is the key to accelerate our personal spiritual evolution, and to boost our overall mental well-being when we are experiencing those down moments. As Cady goes on to say: “We grow by using for others the light and knowledge we have.”
Alvin Pouissant, a prominent Harvard psychiatrist, was asked what he would do if he found himself on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Because of his knowledge of the psychiatric field, it would be reasonable to assume that he would go to the most prominent psychiatrist or therapist he knew. However, that was not his response. Dr. Pouissant said he would find someone down the street who was worse off than he was and he would help that person. He recognized that the way to put one’s life back together, no matter what the challenge, is to forget the personal self and serve.
I recall I had to take an unplanned trip to Missouri. My connecting flight to Missouri from Denver was canceled due to a storm that passed through the Colorado area. There were no flights available until the next day. Needless to say, this disrupted my perfectly coordinated travel schedule and presented a spiritual growth opportunity that I would have preferred not to have. While I was seeking to speak to a customer service representative from the airline, I ended up in a very long line with many other passengers whose flights were canceled. It was one of those Disneyland like lines – down the block and around the corner.
In line in front of me was a woman who appeared quite distraught. She started talking with me about a business deal that was about to collapse. She shared how she had struggled to make this deal happen, how important it was and now it was about to fall apart. She talked with me as if we were close acquaintances or I was her longtime counselor. While this was not my intention when I got in line, I ended up helping this person I had never met. I posed a few questions that raised some alternative possibilities, and she eventually concluded that something greater was in store for her and her business. I sensed she felt better and even relieved. Interestingly, I felt better as well and the challenge I was facing didn’t seem very significant. In a small way, I was able to serve that person and my challenge diminished in significance. As an added bonus, the line we were in suddenly seemed really short.
Rendering service to others, or to a cause bigger than the personal self, not only benefits the receiver or the cause, but also the one who serves. Basic truth reminds us that what we give away and release in consciousness, we keep. Consequently, if you experience lack in any area of life, the surest way to replace it with abundance in that area, is to determine what you have to give and to share it. If you are feeling down in the dumps, see how you can serve another person.
Because we all have something to give, anyone can serve. That service may be at our local spiritual community, our neighborhood, or the world. As spiritual beings, we are here to be inlets and then outlets of all that God is. When we serve for the joy of serving, we will see and experience the “new heaven and the new earth.” Spiritual prosperity will flow to, through, and as us… and we shall grow in our own spiritual understanding.
Peace and Blessings,
James
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