I just watched the movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith. The last movie he was in "I Am Legend", had me bored to tears, I think I got about half way through before shutting it off. His previous movie before that, "Pursuit of Happiness", actually had a significant impact on me both personally, and professionally. Who would have ever thought that a movie could have such an impact, but there are a few others that have. Although this film, had me sitting there in awe, wondering what was happening, when it all came together, it made perfect sense.
I won't go into the details of the movie in case you haven't seen it, but it certainly gave me a breakthrough, on what it means to be a great person. You see a great person isn't someone who lives for themselves, a great person is someone who lives for others. This guys life had hit a turning point and he made a decision due to a tragic event that he would help others. Maybe he felt guilty and was trying to give back something, maybe it made him feel good. I think it was both.
At one time I lived my life completely for myself. When I got married and had a child, I realized there was more to life than just me. Believe it or not, my past year in network marketing has helped me to see that helping others is the only way to truly be an inspiration on this planet. There are other great ways you can inspire others through being a speaker, a pastor, a policeman, an actor, a volunteer, or as we saw in "Seven Pounds", a tax collector. You see no matter what career we have, we all have the ability to serve. It's just a matter of choice. As contrary to our beliefs we don't necessarily have to be in a career, where we automatically serve to serve others.
The life you lead today will one day pass like the wind. If you can come to realize that and wrap your hands around that fact, you might just change the way you look at things. I heard a guy once say, "live each day as your last, but plan for 10 years down the road". I personally think the greatest tragedy in life is to live like you are going to live forever.
If you don't feel like you have been a great servant in your life, its never too late to start and impact the lives of others while you are here. Your little acts of serving others might make a huge difference, and maybe even save someones life. If your looking surpass your leadership in your home, business, company, church, hospital, or community. Simply make yourself a promise that you will put others first. I think what makes a leader great is simply serving others.
1 comment:
Rachel,
My devotions for this week have been on servanthood. Your blog is so true. We need to realize that Self-promotion and servanthood don’t mix. Real servants don’t serve for the approval or applause of others. They live for an audience of One. As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” With saying this, You won’t find many real servants in the limelight; in fact, they avoid it whenever possible. A person with a true servants heart is content with quietly serving in the shadows. We need to realize that, "You may be serving in obscurity in some small place, feeling unknown and unappreciated. Listen: God put you where you are for a purpose!"
We have to be content with where God has put us and serve to please him not!
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