Check out the next happiness trigger I am sharing with you all, “Service”. Remember, these are little pieces from my next book Happy Women Live Better: 13 Ways to Trigger Your Happiness Every Day (coming October 1st!). I want your feedback and comments! Don’t forget, every week, I’ll give away $50 in gift cards to one reader who posts on the blog – $25 for you, and $25 for someone you want to bless! Congratulations to last week’s winner LaTonya Orr!
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Beth had just received a job transfer from California to Michigan. In addition to an apartment full of furniture to pack up, she would need to get her two cars to Michigan as well. Her brother volunteered to help her drive to the Midwest, but the other car would need to be shipped. She’d had it since college (and it was already a few years old when she got it), so it was now 10 years old with just over 100,000 miles on it. But it was a Volkswagen, so she knew it had a lot more life left, and she didn’t want to part with it. It would last several more years and make a great car to drive in all that Michigan snow. All she’d ever had to do is get oil changes, tune ups and new tires. It would be worth it to pay a car shipping service to haul the car to her new city. One morning as Beth brushed her teeth, a random thought entered her mind: “Give the car to Sylvia.”
“What?” she thought as she continued to brush vigorously.
Sylvia was a young woman at church who is raising a little girl and young son on her own. Beth’s friend Lisa had mentioned that Sylvia couldn’t take a better paying job on the other side of town because her car keeps breaking down and she can’t afford a new one, and doesn’t want to take on a job where she knows she doesn’t have reliable transportation.
Beth stopped brushing and stood in front of the mirror. Tears began to stream down her face. She had never struggled to have reliable transportation. As a teenager and college student, her parents gave her a car. She had a good job as an accountant right out of college. For two years now, she’d had two cars – the one from college had been paid for for many years. She realized in that moment just how blessed she was, and had an overwhelming urge to bless Sylvia.
She called Lisa to find out how to get in touch with her. It was a Saturday. She called Sylvia and asked if they could chat after church service the next day. When she saw her in person, she gave her the news – she wanted to bless her with a car, no strings attached. Sylvia was speechless at first. Then she began to cry. “You have no idea,” she said in an emotional whisper. “I just sat here and prayed for God to help me some kind of way. I told him, I want to do better, but I need transportation that’s reliable! And here, 30 minutes after my prayer, you tell me this!” Sylvia thanked Beth profusely. She told the kids and they started jumping up and down. Beth felt like she was on cloud nine. Something that she’d taken for granted, and didn’t cost her anything to do, had made a huge difference in the life of this family.
There are ways you could make a difference for someone, just like Sylvia. The sacrifice would be minimal to you, but monumental to the other person. Among effective leaders, the most common character strength surprisingly is not “leadership” or “bravery and valor,” but the “capacity to love and be loved.” Why? One reason is likely that when people feel you care about them, they are more likely to trust and follow you, and do anything to help you succeed. At the core of serving others is love. You cannot love without serving. You cannot serve without love. They are inextricably intertwined – not only with each other, but with your personal happiness. You have knowledge to share that others are in the dark about. Do you mentor anyone with that knowledge? You have possessions you haven’t used or wouldn’t miss if you gave away, but those possessions would mean the world to someone who doesn’t have them. Are you hoarding your stuff or looking for ways to bless others with it? You never know what the people around you are going through. Serve them good cheer and kindness. What small thing could you do today to be of service to someone else? Leave your comments below, I want to hear from you!
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