The Better Way

“Serve one another … ” – St. Paul’s Letter to The Church at Galatia, Chapter 5
How archaic is that?!  Life is all about ME, after all. I gotta get Mine … take care of Self … chase My dreams … cover My behind … win at all costs.  Right?!
In America, the statistics are mind-numbing.  We have become one of the most narcissistic self-centered self-serving societies in civilized history.  The more we get — the more we want.  The more we want — the more we waste.  The more we waste — the more depressed we feel.  The more we medicate our depression — the more empty we feel.   What a sad and sick emotional roller coaster.
Jesus modeled the Better Way.  We’ve tried to get it right for two thousand years now.  Still, we fall short.  Scripture said we would.  Yet, the Father provides us the Grace to persist and seek the Better Way.
“No one has ever become poor by giving” – Anne Frank
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another” – Charles Dickens
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed” – Maya Angelou
“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help” – Abraham Lincoln
“Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same — with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead” – Mother Teresa
So then, why is it sometimes so difficult to serve one another?
Bottom line:  pride.  We simply aren’t wired to give or serve.
Simple psychology teaches that we all need to receive and to give love in order to survive.  And that makes good biblical or spiritual sense.  But, that’s not our human nature.  We are, by nature, sinners.  We are imperfect.  We are prone to wander.  We are takers by nature.  Yet, our very survival depends on our willingness to love and give.  Oh the paradox.
St. John’s Gospel reminds us, “For God so loved the world that He gave …”.
According to Jesus, we too can give.  If we are made in His image, we are empowered with the capacity to love and give.  But it’s a choice.  We must choose to love, and to give, and to serve one another.  It’s the Better Way.
So, choose.  Go … and SERVE.  Try it.  You will feel better.  Not only about yourself, but about this crazy mixed up world.  You might even discover that the Father is loving you towards Himself.  He designed you for better.  You can be better.  We can be better.
His Way … is, after all … the Better Way.