Serving Others So Others Can Serve

I'm double booked tomorrow and in need of help. I'm sure you've felt this way at some point in your life. For me this typically means having to prioritize the commitments then neglect the lesser of the two. Pleasantly enough, that's not what 's happening tomorrow.

My friend Kim is bailing me out by voluntarily taking a 4 hour commitment off my hands. Don't miss this - voluntarily. When was the last time someone gave you four hours of time back? It's unheard of. Kim isn't even asking for anything in return. So, I'm getting four hours of my life back, and I'm not paying anything for it. That's a novel idea.

I started thinking about how the transaction looked from Kim's point of view. She's losing four hours of her life that she can never get back again, and she's getting nothing in return for it. This deal is so one sided that I started wondering if I was hallucinating. What would prompt someone to do that?

Then I started thinking about the effect her service would have on others even beyond me. My conflict tomorrow is due to some other friends having their first baby. I'm keeping a promise by going to the hospital to visit them. So, Kim has become the critical link in the chain here. Without her willingness to bail me out of the other responsibility, I break a promise and my friends at the hospital don't get a visit, or if they do, I end up blowing another commitment.

Kim taught me something today. I need to be on the lookout for opportunities to serve other people simply because I might be giving them the opportunity to serve a greater need for someone else. Imagine how much more enjoyable the world would be if we were all in a race to be the first to serve.

True service comes with caveats though. The act must be sacrificial, voluntary, and expect nothing in return. That's what made Kim's offer so shocking. She voluntarily gave up a valuable resource (time) and expected nothing in return. If I would voluntarily sacrifice for just one person a week in this way, it would turn my world upside down. I say we give it a try and see what happens. We might make someone's day. We might start a small movement. We might change the world. Now that's a novel idea.