“Service: The Journey That Changes Us”

 

Dear Reader,

There are many times when we are called to do what feels impossible—or so we believe. Yet if we limit our options, we also limit our possibilities. Service, like life itself, is not fixed. It changes as we change, and each season of life reshapes the way we serve.

As Jesse Jackson once said:
“I am not a perfect servant. I am a public servant doing my best against the odds. As I develop and serve, be patient. God is not finished with me yet.”

That reminder encourages patience—with ourselves and others—as service takes on new forms. What matters most is the faith to keep moving in the right direction. Proverbs teaches: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6). The key is not perfection, but trust, step by step.

Stephen Covey adds another layer of hope:
“Every human has four endowments—self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom: the power to choose, to respond, to change.”

Faith, combined with these endowments, allows us to accept where we are while reshaping where we are going.

In my own experience, growth has come when I’ve faced my fears and resentments honestly. By naming my errors, finding paths of correction, and learning from them, I lessen their negative impact and create space for harmony and peace.

Bill Wilson put it this way:
“You can’t think your way into right action, but you can act your way into right thinking.”
Every time I exercise agency to change a repeated behavior, the result changes with it.

Let me share a simple example. Today, I came home to a kitchen floor covered with dog mess tracked inside. My first instinct could have been anger or resentment. But I reminded myself—this was not a personal attack, just a situation to face. I cleaned the floor, worked through my emotions, and then calmly spoke with my housemates. No shouting, no hard feelings, no apologies later. Service in that moment meant choosing peace over resentment.

If I am to live as a disciple of Christ, then I must learn from what Elder Robert D. Hales taught in General Conference (Oct. 2010):
“Agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Without agency we would be unable to learn or progress or follow the Savior.”

And so, while my acts of service may change with circumstances, the core remains: choosing Christ, choosing growth, and choosing to love.

I close with the words of Marcus Garvey:
“God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great law. Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.”

Love and a lesson learned, Amen.