If you haven’t yet gone on a service trip, that needs to change. If you haven’t yet volunteered for something in your hometown or college town, that also needs to change. Because, while doing service and volunteer work doesn’t pay the bills, the outcome of the work done is much greater and enjoyable to all those involved.
Serving another person is adventurous, and risky. It is beautiful, and painful. It is wonderful, and altogether the best thing you can be a part of.
There are so many ways that you can serve another person; the spectrum is super wide and colorful. Too often people tend to put service in a box: either you work at a shelter, or you travel the world doing some kind of gritty work in developing countries. People often get labeled as a goody-two-shoes, a hippy, or “too innocent.” This needs to stop right now.
Every time you serve, you embark on a new adventure. It might be to the library, a festival, a garden. It might be 10 minutes, 1 hour, or a whole continent away, but the task doesn’t differ. No matter where you are, you are there to touch somebody’s life, and to let yourself be touched. This can be risky though. You might come away a different person, with a couple more scars, and a couple less hours of sleep. But, it can be really good – maybe you needed a change, and the scars add character, and become a good story to share. The real question is, are you ready to open yourself up and be vulnerable? Only when you let others in will you understand why it’s worth the risk.
Serving is also an easy way to learn about the world and communities around you. You must simply keep your eyes open, and observe. It’s amazing everything you can learn by just allowing yourself to be present in the moment you are serving. Much like opening yourself up, however, it can be risky. What you find might not be what you want to hear, and it can be breathtakingly sad. But, it is super important that you feel this, because without this feeling, you wouldn’t be able to come back to make a change.
Service is spreading the love! Serving is taking the time to say “hey, you matter to me.” You might be a waitress, or a waiter. You might help tutor someone, you might simply be a listening ear, or attend your friend’s event you predict low participation for. It’s visiting your friend with the work they missed, and a bowl of soup when they’re sick. Its painting a little kids face, or doing their nails. It's dancing with the one person who no one has asked to dance at homecoming. And, it's calling your friend you haven’t seen in months just to check in.
In doing these simple deeds, you are helping people, and creating friendships that will last longer than you would have expected. You create a positive impact on those you care about. Even more overwhelmingly, the people you are serving and caring for often make an even bigger impact on you. They shower you with their love and friendship, so much so that maybe you don’t know what to do with it, so you continue to help them, and they, in turn, start to help you to. They teach you more than you’re teaching them! Without even fully realizing it, together, a community of kindness and love has been created that is thriving based on how much each person shows how much they care.
