The Power of Being in Service to the World

We are living in a time when dangers come at us from all directions – from the air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat and the medications we take. Violence is widespread. And the numbers of people in the world who are experiencing extreme poverty and suffering have risen to levels we have never seen before. 

Though most people in the U.S. live in a relatively peaceful environment – in which acts of violence are not the norm – our own levels of stress and anxiety have also risen along with feelings of overwhelm and helplessness. What can we possibly do, we wonder, that could make a significantpositive difference in this chaotic, upside down world. 

Actually, there’s another way we can look at this dark state of affairs – even as we recognize the urgency for us each to elevate our own consciousness and be of service to other people: What if these are precisely the times for which we took birth? What if we knew that this time of extraordinary peril and uncertainty is providing us with unprecedented opportunities to accelerate our conscious evolution and contribute great value to the world?

All of us have special gifts within us that could impact other people’s lives in significant ways. We may not yet have discovered or developed these gifts, but we see glimmers of them whenever we do something that gives us great pleasure and a greater sense of wholeness and fulfillment. 

It could be as simple as arranging a bouquet of flowers – or a piece of music – to evoke a sense inner beauty in the hearts of all who experience it. The chord that is struck through that act of creation will reverberate forever – in never-ending waves that inspire countless people to find their own inner beauty and bring it out through their hearts to help illuminate the world.

A World Cries Out

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down” - Isaiah 64:1

How often have our hearts spoken that same prayer? How often have we longed for God to break into this broken world and set right the wrongs?  How often have we wished for some Divine intervention to rescue us from a seemingly hopeless and dark time? We’ve all prayed that prayer: “Come and make it right, God. Step in and do something about this mess.”

This is the Cry of the hopeless, the Cry of the oppressed, downtrodden, forgotten, unseen and unheard. Throughout history – as one group dominates and oppresses another – we have hoped and prayed that some external spiritual superpower would deliver us from such evil. Yet, all our spiritual heroes – Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed – have directed us to find that power of deliverance deep within ourselves. 

As this same passage in Isaiah reminds us, ‘Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. - Isaiah 64:8

If we are the clay and the work of the hands of the Divine, then God’s response to the Cry of the oppressed is acted out through OUR response to the Cry of the oppressed. It is We who are meant to respond to that Cry. 

Our spiritual walk is not separate from our human walk – or from how we live our lives through all the large and small choices that we make every day. Our spirituality is meant to inform and uplift our humanity. When we answer the Call to make a positive difference in the lives of other people we find that we become more in the process.

By finding meaningful ways to be of service every day, we shift the focus of our attention from our minds to our hearts. And by so doing, we deliver ourselves from much of the anxiety and stress that this intense era is exerting on us all. As we each make the commitment to answer the Call for help that we see and hear around us so often, we help lift the spirits of countless and our own at the very same time.