Tip 7: Serve Others

Have you ever prayed for a miracle or asked yourself, “Do miracles really happen?”  I have been blessed to experience real miracles in my life.  Some people might dismiss it as coincidence, luck, serendipity, or good karma but I believe the miracles I have witnessed in my life are true answers of prayer.  I have gone through tough times where I have literally been on my knees in prayer, asking for God’s help and through divine intervention my prayers have been answered.

Miracles do happen and I believe God will often work through us to cause a miracle to happen in someone’s life.  We have to be listening and ready to act when we hear that voice in our head and more often in our heart telling us to take action to help someone.

This is why I feel this tip is the most important of the seven I have written about in this series.  I have given tips on how to have success in this economy and the new part-time world in which we are living and I hope they will help you navigate these challenging times.  However, the act of serving others is the one I am most passionate about.  It has the potential to not only change your life but the lives of those around you.  YOU have the power to change the world one person at a time.  You have the potential to help a miracle come to pass in someone’s life and in the process increase their faith.  If they pay it forward to someone else, it could start a ripple effect that stretches beyond your lifetime impacting thousands.  Think about it.  What more important thing could you do?  It all starts with helping one person.

In the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith plays the role of a man named Chris Gardner who was a struggling salesman with every odd stacked against him.  Although he was smart, hard working, and had an incredible work ethic, he was simply not making it and he needed help.  He applied for a highly competitive unpaid internship in the hopes of one day becoming a stock-broker for a prestigious San Francisco firm.   Although on paper many other candidates looked better than him, during his interview someone in the firm noticed something special about him and gave him a chance.  That is all Chris needed.  He seized the opportunity and eventually became a star within the firm.  He needed a miracle to happen in his life and it came from someone willing to look past his appearance, his mistakes, and all the odds stacked against him and give him a chance.

There are deserving people everyday that are praying for a miracle to happen in their lives and many times that answered prayer will come from us hearing the voice in our head saying “give them a chance.”  I have been on the receiving end of those miracles and it changed my life.  Although many people who are reading this blog might be looking for content and tips to help them take the leap and start their own business, launch a new project, or find a job after months of unemployment, I want us to take a moment of pause right now and think of someone in our life who needs a miracle where we could be the person to help deliver it.

Taking The Leap in life is not just about achieving our dreams and goals.  It is about learning that the greatest reward comes from putting others first and having a strong desire to make the world a better place.

Research has proven that the best way to achieve happiness is to forget our problems and issues and to serve others.  God designed us to love and serve and as we do this our bodies naturally release stimulants that cause us to be happy.  I believe it is not only good for us physically but spiritually as well.  If we have learned anything since the crash of 2008, it is that the world needs more selfless people rather than selfish people.

Each one of us has the power to be an answer of prayer in someone’s life today.  Miracles happen but God often will call us and use us to facilitate those miracles here on earth.  I am sure I have failed many times when I should have listened to that voice in me urging to do something but I was consumed with running a business, being a father to five, volunteering on multiple boards and committees, and all the other activities that add up to consume my life.  While these things are important, I need to constantly remember to be in prayer and be listening for when I have the opportunity to help others.

We have to work hard not to have a myopic view of the world where we are consumed with our own self- interest.  If I put my head down and focus too much on the tasks on my daily agenda, I will miss out on great opportunities where I can serve and be an encouragement to those around me.  There may be people in our lives that no one else can reach but us.  No matter how busy we are, no matter how tough the situations we may be facing, I want to encourage all of us to focus on others and to look for ways to serve and help people in need.  It is the most rewarding work we can do.  Yes, one person can make a difference in the world.  We just have to do it one life at a time.

I believe we live in a world where good people win, good deeds are blessed, and people truly want to help those who have helped them.  It not only makes the world a better place but it also makes us happy and often during this process, we will be blessed with new opportunities when we are putting others first and serving to the best of our abilities.

The Pursuit of Happyness – Miracles do happen…they just might start with us!