My Serve

My Serve
I am reading a book by a guy with a surname of Sheridan at the moment.  He is a reporter for a major tv network.
At the moment he is telling the stories of various ones who have been unique in their own ways.  He just mentioned the Abdullahs.  The wife was from Lebanon while the hubby is an Australian born Lebanese person.  They made the news as it was three of their kids that were hit by a car and killed as they were walking to get ice cream.  The remarkable thing about them was not that they just experienced overwhelming grief, but they exhibited forgiveness that impacted not just the genuinely remorseful perpetrator, but the prisoners he was with, and many others.
At the moment he is telling the story of a lady that helps homeless people.  She spent 7 years on the street herself and is now assisting ones from that environment.
It is a sentence of his that has impacted me big time.  It is from a heritage that is unfamiliar to some, but the truth of what he said I think is universal and applicable to all.  She not only helps, but teaches others to help also.  He said, “she was a servant before she was a witness.”  In his mind being a servant has made her a great witness, and being a great witness has made her a great teacher.
The point for me sort of validates something I have felt for a long time.  That is, life gives weight to words.  It is one thing to say good things, and quite another to live what I say.  Living something is harder than saying something.
Yet to me it is the living something I look for.  I do not pretend that any one is perfect apart from one that walked the earth millennia ago.  In my mind even the greatest have flawed thinking and display flawed actions at times.
It is a life that impresses me.  A body of work.  Something not just said but lived.  It is that that inspires and motivates me.  In my mind what better way to achieve a worthwhile goal than to be a servant.
I try to keep a good mechanic when I find one.  And a good doctor.  Anyone who not just says the right things but does the right things is in my mind worth holding onto. Someone who serves well I reckon is worth holding on to as well.  Many a servant has found themselves exalted into a rarified atmosphere of power just by doing their job well.  Not just saying but doing.
So for me I am happy to be a servant.  Who knows where it could lead.  But the point for me is even if it leads nowhere there is no satisfaction like a job well done.  I can talk about eating a cake all I like, but it is the eating it that satisfies.