Serve Somebody
Bob Dylan had a song years ago entitled “Gotta Serve Somebody.” He took us through all walks of life from the richest to the poorest, sharing with us that it didn’t matter what our status was in the world that the bottom line was that we had a choice of serving the “devil” or the “Lord” and either we would do. In Course’s terms for me, the mind can choose to follow the ego’s voice or the Holy Spirit’s voice.
Whatever is true is eternal, and cannot change or be changed. Spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but the mind can elect what it chooses to serve. The only limit put on its choice is that it cannot serve two masters. If it elects to do so, the mind can become the medium by which spirit creates along the line of its own creation. If it does not freely elect to do so, it retains its creative potential but places itself under tyrannous rather than Authoritative control. As a result it imprisons, because such are the dictates of tyrants. To change your mind means to place it at the disposal of true Authority. T-1.V.5:1-7
Which voice am I listening to today? I am really here to be truly helpful? Is that how I am serving this day? Is that how I am serving my brothers? When I do what I do, whose voice is calling me?
I like to ask questions when I write as it helps me to reflect upon myself and where I am in my life and what my true purpose is. It helps me to gauge where I am truly within my mind in what I am doing in the moment.
“Ask Him very specifically:
What would You have me do?
Where would You have me go?
What would You have me say, and to whom?” ~Lesson 71
Our ministerial program that we have created over the last several years is about service, be it service to the Holy Spirit or to our brothers. We take our cue from Robert Greenleaf and the premise of Servant-Leadership. This is what Robert Greenleaf wrote about the idea of Servant-Leadership in 1970 in his booklet, The Servant as Leader, (bold mine).
The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?
…Awareness is not the giver of solace – it is just the opposite. It is a disturber and an awakener. Able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed. They are not seekers after solace. They have their own inner serenity.
A leader must have more of an armor of confidence in facing the unknown – more than those who accept his leadership. This is partly anticipation and preparation, but it is also a very firm belief that in the stress of real life situations one can compose oneself in a way that permits the creative process to operate.
What does this tell me about myself and where I am in the journey?
At MiraclesOne, we look at our teaching in a very simple way. It is the sharing of our own experiences. For us, it is the only way to teach. Most of all, we are teaching ourselves as ACIM tells us that we “teach what we want to learn.” Our goal in what we do is not for fame or fortune, but rather for our own healing. For me, to take A Course in Miracles to the lofty, intellectual realm does not serve me in my everyday situations and experiences. I have no choice but to apply it in all that I do. How else can I truly come to forgiveness? How else can I truly recognize my brothers as myself? How else could I truly know the Love of God? Pontificating about the Course concepts will not bring that to me. Slow and steady brings the treasure of Heaven to me. That’s what I received in a message from Holy Spirit once, actually several times, when I questioned Him about what MiraclesOne is to do. He told me simply, slow and steady, slow and steady.
At first it was “Holy Spirit, what kind of message is that?” Then, I was reminded of the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. The hare was boastful, silver-tongued, lightning-fast and overconfident, mostly resting on his laurels. The tortoise simply took all the time that he needed, never stopping but always moving forward to the goal.
That is the vision that I have for myself, the sense of certainty and steadiness, always trusting the Holy Spirit’s plan. When I trust Holy Spirit’s plan, then I will walk easily and with a purpose. In the last year, I even received a similar message from a Disney movie, The Robinsons. Simply too, it was “Keep Moving Forward”. I am to keep moving forward in a slow and steady pace, serving the Holy Spirit and my brothers. This makes it not about me, the ego me, the ego desires, but about stepping back and allowing the Light in me to step forward, shining the way through the darkness for not only myself and others. This is what I am to teach. This is what MiraclesOne is to teach and so we see our ministry work as similar to this familiar quote:
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime” Author unknown
It’s not so much about, “Is someone serving me?” but, “How am I serving others?”
Back to my questions to myself.
Have I been truly helpful today?
Have I been kind?
Have I judged?
Have I allowed the Holy Spirit’s correction within my mind?
Am I truly serving today?
Are you truly serving today?
Yet in the light of vision it is looked upon quite differently. You can have faith in it to serve the Holy Spirit’s goal, and give it power to serve as means to help the blind to see. But in their seeing they look past it, as do you. The faith and the belief you gave it belongs beyond. You gave perception and belief and faith from mind to body. Let them now be given back to what produced them, and can use them still to save itself from what it made. T-21.III.12:2-7
Practical Application Focus:
Am I self-serving or Self serving? Observe as the day unfolds. Take note of the times or situations that self-serving (ego) has been the focus and the times or situations that Self serving (Holy Spirit) has been the focus. What occurred? How did it unfold? How did I feel about it? How did others react? What can I do differently next time?
Take this to Holy Spirit in meditation and receive His Answer.
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RESOURCES:
More on Servant-Leadership at the Greenleaf Center
www.greenleaf.org
Gotta Serve Somebody by Bob Dylan
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqxW6E24Jh8Share