To Be a Servant of All

It's a funny thing how once your focus in life shifts, that the things you think about shift as well.

About a month ago or so I decided to set aside apathy and giving in to sadness, and to set my priorities straight.  To get my eyes back on Jesus, and to - once again - make Him the centre of my life.  Partly because I was done living day to day doing nothing to strengthen myself spiritually, and partly because I wanted to begin to prepare myself for this coming winter.  What with the sun rising later and setting sooner, the hours of daylight become limited, and that means not so much time in the sunshine (if there aren't any clouds blocking it).  I'm one of those people who is somewhat affected by the weather and lack of sunlight.  So focusing on Jesus and building up my spirit is a preemptive strike to stay strong in the coming months.

As this change has been happening, and my focus has become sharpened and fixated on the One who is stronger than me, my thoughts have been changing.  In just a couple of weeks I went from responding to things (in my head) angrily and with not-so-good words, to being more at peace, and having no problem or temptation to saying things that don't reflect Jesus in a good light.  I think about things like healing and faith and what true surrender really looks like.

These aren't new topics to me.  I've thought about them several times before.  But they have always been subject to contemplation when my life is surrounded by the intent to look to Christ.  These are the same topics that I thought a lot about when I was in my DTS.  They are the things I think about now as I'm striving and seeking to serve God.

Serve.

When I was in my DTS, I tried to stay behind the scenes a lot.  People mistook that as me trying to serve and be like Martha in the New Testament.  Really, it was just me more wanting to be out of the line of sight of as many people as possible, and still get things done.  I love being anonymous, being behind the scenes, doing good, but not letting people know that I'm the one doing the things I'm doing.  If that makes sense.

I did also seek to serve during that time.  To serve the people around me.  Especially those I didn't really like or get along with.  Because what better way to see people as Christ sees them, and to love them as He loves them, than to serve them?

Serving others has been one of the many things I've been thinking a lot about.  How to be a servant to others.  What opportunities are there to serve?  And where?  For me, work is the main answer to that, as I spend most of my time there.  Not only to serve the customers, but to serve my fellow coworkers as well.  Looking for opportunities to help others out.  To live by the phrase I once heard and had strived to live out before: "If you see a need, meet it."  Whether that means seeing an area that needs to be swept and no one else is bothering to sweep it, to make someone else's bed if they forgot, or to volunteer at a community even that is desperate for help - things like that.

A couple of weeks ago I was reading in the gospel of Mark.  Chapter 10, verse 45 says this:
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

This is what I want.  To be like Jesus; to be a servant of all.  To be led by His voice and guided by His hand and to serve in any way I can.  To be a light in the midst of darkness.  To glorify Him in all that I do.  To be so completely and wholly surrendered to Him that I am a complete reflection of Christ.

Because if Jesus came to serve and serve all those around Him, that is what I want to do as well.