The Power of Helping Others

If you ask most people, they love the idea of helping others and making a positive difference in some way. Millions of volunteers help with thousands of causes every day. Sometimes, for public interest, mainstream news shares stories of people who have helped in significant ways, saving and changing lives. I love those kinds of stories. They're heartwarming and they generate loads of interest in whatever particular cause is being showcased. People surge forward in for a brief time, inspired by what they've seen. But then life happens and all is forgotten. Finding the time to serve isn't an easy thing to do. We're all living such busy lives, rushing here and there, trying to take care of those we love and never finding enough time to do it all. When it comes to doing things for others regularly, it can be nearly impossible to find the time or energy. But it's important. It's huge. It makes the world go 'round. And it's worth the effort. Not just for those being helped, but for those who are doing the helping. 

Years ago, after graduating from college, I underwent training to become a children's grief group facilitator. One part of the training involved a full weekend of sharing and hearing about the most profound losses in each of our lives; hopes and dreams, grandparents, friends, parents, pets, children, cousins...we cried as a group about each loss. It was incredibly emotional and we were all weary and drained by the very end of the weekend. Our assignment, as we were dismissed, was to go out and do life-affirming activities. Play with children, walk a neighbor's dog, help in a soup kitchen, bring joy and comfort to others. To bring ourselves back from the low of reliving our losses, the cure was to lose ourselves in the service of others.

Reasons to Serve:

SERVING OTHERS HELPS US HEAL

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.  ~ Jim Barrie

The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served. ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

SERVING OTHERS SPREADS LIGHT AND HOPE

Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. ~ Rumi

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. ~ Albert Schweitzer

SERVING OTHERS HELPS US GROW IN WONDERFUL WAYS

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. ~ Gandhi

The more I thought about myself, the weaker I became. The more I recognized that I was serving a purpose larger than myself, the stronger I became. ~ Eric Greitens

SERVING OTHERS IS OUR MOST NOBLE RESPONSIBILITY AND OUR GREATEST CONTRIBUTION

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. ~ Muhammad Ali

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. ~ Albert Pine

BEING BLESSINGS FOR OTHERS BRINGS BLESSINGS TO US

By becoming the answer to someone's prayer, we often find the answer to our own. ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

One of the great ironies of life is this: he or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served. ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

When you are able to shift your inner awareness to how you can serve others, and when you make this the central focus of your life, you will then be in a position to know true miracles in your progress toward prosperity. ~ Wayne W. Dyer

When you reach out to hurting people, that's when God is going to make sure your needs are supplied. When you focus on being a blessing, Go makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance. ~ Joel Osteen

How to Serve:

SERVE ENTHUSIASTICALLY, EXPECTING NOTHING IN RETURN. SERVE AS MUCH OR AS LITTLE AS YOU CAN. 

Do your little bit of good where you are. It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. ~ Desmond Tutu

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~ Mother Teresa

You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. ~ John Bunyan

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson

SERVE WITH A LOVING AND HUMBLE HEART

Charity sees the need, not the cause. ~ German Proverb

If you can't do great things, Mother Teresa used to say, do little things with great love. If you can't do them with great love, do them with a little love. If you can't do them with a little love, do them anyway. Love grows when people serve. ~ John Ortberg