How Can I Serve?

By essentiallove.tv

It begins with a decision in your heart to choose to love, to choose to serve someone. When your eyes are open to the needs around you, you begin to see needs you never saw before. I saw this video a while back and couldn’t get the message out of my head. Don’t keep waiting for the world to change, change your world one person at a time.

Often you’ll find that the “simple” things are a great place to start. Decide today that you will look for an opportunity to show someone uncommon love by finding a way to serve them. Here’s 10 ideas to get you started:

  1. Doing someone’s chores: bringing in garbage cans, mowing a lawn, picking up trash, raking leaves, etc.
  2. Give money to someone: Choose how much you want to give ($10, $20, $50, $100, etc.) put the money in a separate place in your wallet or purse and then just look for someone who needs it. Trust me, if you’re looking for someone in need, you’ll find them.
  3. Write a thank you note to five people.
  4. Giving someone a gift: this could be a “thinking of you” gift for a friend or acquaintance
  5. Buy a gift card to a fast food place and then find a homeless person to give it to.
  6. Simply helping in any way possible: As you leave a grocery store look for someone needing help loading their car or offer to take their cart back to the store for them.
  7. Choose to listen to someone who needs a friend: perhaps an elderly relative or someone you work with who doesn’t have a friend.
  8. Take a tasty treat to a city worker and thank them for their service to the community: fire, police, parks & rec, trash, etc. (Often, since they only see residents at their worst and they need to see some residents at their best. Think about a police  officer that has answered 5 domestic disturbance calls like you see on COPS. It’s easy for them to loose faith in humanity after a tough day on the job.)
  9. Bring “Ice Cold” bottled water or Gatorade out to the trash collectors on a hot day.
  10. Go to a park or parking lot and spend 30 minutes picking up trash.

Here are some websites I’ve found with more ideas…

  1. Conspiracy of Kindness by Steve Sjogren website – 5 Simple Projects to get you started
  2. ActsOfKindness.org
  3. Help Others.org
  4. GuerrillaLovers.com