I must serve all these others, or I will not be prepared for service to God…
I am a working wife, mother and daughter.
That is who I am.
And that is a big deal because it means that my life – like the lives of so many other souls – is a life that (by its very definition) is a life of SERVICE. This is not to say that people who do not have paid employment outside their home, or those who are not married or parents are not living lives of service, it is instead, an observation that if I am to say that I am any good at any one of my identifiers, than I must be of service to others.
As a person employed outside my home, I work in the service of my clients (for a financial reward, which is the payment of my fees). As a wife I work in the service of my husband – not as his subordinate, but rather to ensure that he and our family are comfortable and happy and looked after. As a mother I am at the service of my children – not as their slave, but in their best interests, which may at times (from their perspective) look like I am doing exactly the opposite of what they require. As a daughter I am at the service of my parents – not because they have nobody else to help them, but because I like to help those who I love.
And I have been reflecting on this service today, because it can be downright draining to be at the service of others all the time! And yet, Saint Josemaria wrote in “The Forge” at 684, “Every activity – be it of great human importance or not – must become for you a means to serve Our Lord and your fellow men. That is the true measure of its importance.”
And I have been reflecting on this too, because easy to just give up and decide that there is nothing more to be done. I would be so easy to be tired and lazy and simply unwilling or unable to keep being of service to others. And sometimes the temptation to do such a thing is very great indeed…
And yet, I look to the example of Christ. How tired He must have been to be of service to everyone and to NEVER EVER have that service reciprocated. How tired He must have been to have carried the physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing of all His followers for so many years in His perfect Humanity. For while I know that Christ’s Divinity was complete, so was His Humanity, and this meant that He felt all the same draining that I feel when I am of service to everyone.
And the next time I find myself starting to complain about where I am and what I am planning to do, I am going to hold myself back for just a moment and think things through… You see, I am determined that my Will should be of service to God’s Will. And that means that I must serve all these others, or I will not be prepared for that…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.