Called To Serve

Ralph W. Beiting, executive director emeritus, wrote an autobiography with the title: Called to the Mountains. I have mentioned earlier that during my vacation this summer I read this autobiography. I was deeply touched by the relief organization he created and the lessons he learned from a lifetime of being called to help those in need.

            Chapter 5 of this autobiography is entitled, “Called to Serve.” He makes the following observation:

“…CAP is still an organization committed to serve. We are still called to serve and every day we are reminded that in serving, we gain much more than we give.” [page 52]

            This concept may run counter to our typical notion of helping others. When we reach out to help someone, whatever the need might be, we gain so much more from the experience than the person being helped! We often approach it with the attitude that the other person is really benefiting from what we have to offer, and we hope that they appreciate to the time and effort we have sacrificed.

            Actually, there is an opposite attitude that I think more closely reflects following in the footsteps of Jesus. When we are truly called to serve, we humbly and gratefully acknowledge the reciprocal gift that is given to us by the one receiving  our efforts. We indeed gain so much more than we can ever give. We gain a humble heart of gratitude. We gain a relationship and friendship deepened by the experience. We gain God’s favor and good pleasure because we are doing what pleases Him. We gain our own self-respect because we are not centering our efforts on ourself. We gain a deeper sense of our ongoing call to serve!

            May God  help each one of us here at Highland View to respond every day in every way to our own call to serve!

In Christian love, Curtis