Who or What Do You Serve?

Service is a path of great reward.
What you serve grows.
Whom you serve is filled.
How you serve serves you, too.


When you give to takers, you increase taking.
When you give to givers, you strengthen giving.
When you pay attention to the squeaky wheel or loudest voice, you increase squeaky loud demands.
When you give attention to the unassuming contributors, you encourage contribution and service.

What you serve serves you. 
When you serve many, you serve all of us.
When you serve the one who only demands more, you are encouraging those who demand.
Those who are whole make no demands.  (ACIM)


Make a difference to those who are making a difference.
Appreciate the ones who care.
Dare to give to those who are giving.
Teachers, leaders, organizers, way showers need our attention, contribution, gratitude and respect.

When we neglect or ignore, criticize or complain about the leaders, we have fewer true leaders.
When we demand more from those who serve us—servers, clerks, attendants, parents, we teach them to be cautious and less willing to give.
When we pay attention to the needy demands of those who are not willing to be responsible, we amplify the demanding entitlement of those who are unwilling or ignorant of how to be respectful and responsible.
When we are petty in our demands or unappreciative those who protect, provide and love us, we demonstrate our selfishness and lack of spiritual understanding.

To make a difference, love the ones who make a difference in your life.
To increase your effectiveness in making a better world, contribute to what is making a better world.
To actualize your potential, serve greatness in everyone you encounter.
To become a powerful contributor to the world you want to be, serve those who are powerful givers.

It takes little to give a lot.
It requires us to use our time, money, energy and consciousness for the Good of All.
Do we fill in the gaps and support what is lacking or do we create a  strong foundation of wholeness ?
Do you follow the path of supporting the greatest demand or encourage the strength of those who give?

Where we give attention, increases.
What we focus on, becomes our world.
Our stories tell the story of our life.
Make a difference in what and whom you serve and you will change your life!

Loving us all as we choose again to make a difference.
Betty Lue

 This is lengthy, but will make a mighty difference in your understanding.

Serving Littleness
Dr. Robert Waldon, N.D., Ph.D.
7 Oak Brook Place, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 (800) 919-2392

What if it’s true that we have built our world around responding to and serving neediness, littleness, lack and pain? That appears to be the way it is. That is not the way of Nature. Nature supports the strong and fit and resourceful. The mind of man has developed (and expressed) the ability to interfere with the natural way. We began by using the mind as another tool or resource for survival. The problem came in when trust fell out. No other animal kills when it is not hungry in order to store up for later. That is symptomatic of the many ways we have used our mind and our clever creativity to handle our lack of trust.

Most species respond in a manner consistent with the survival and well being of the species. In man, selfishness has become an issue. There is a focus on survival of the individual over survival of the species—seeing ourselves as separate from the whole. From that came guilt. In our recognition that we were out of balance or off purpose combined with a belief that our fears, insecurities and lack of trust were based in reality, we experienced guilt, rather than a return to Truth.

Guilt appears to be nothing more than a recognition that we have made a mistake combined with an unwillingness to choose again or to see things differently. Because we could no longer trust God to protect us (from ourselves), we began attempting to expiate our guilt by selectively taking care of those we were hurting. It seems “logical” that the strong, living in fear, would not take care of others who were also strong because that would increase the threat to themselves. The only place we could “safely” express our need for atonement would be on the weak—those who could get better and stronger enough to make us feel good, but not so strong as to threaten or challenge us. The position of “power” then became weakness which played on and manipulated guilt, but never let itself appear strong enough be threatening.

This probably plays out in each of our lives, with most of us playing both roles at varying times and to varying degrees. We come into this world “strong”—happy, whole and free— which threatens those around us. Those who are not totally inculturated very early on are at least taught not to be “selfish”, but to take care of those who have less (usually our “teachers” themselves wanting something from us).  Eventually, the world around us conspires to break us down in some way, in some arena, and that is where we get hooked in the game.

Once we become hurt or needy, usually finding no help or support, we begin to believe that being whole can hurt others (because we believe ourselves hurt) and we make sure never to do that to ourselves or to others. We also begin to take care of the needy in hopes that, if we are ever needy again, we will be taken care of. “There, but for the grace of God, go I” is a powerful statement of gratitude as well as a powerful link in the chain that binds us to the world.

As a result of these experiences and choices, we trust less in God and others, focus more on taking care of ourselves, and operate to handle fear rather than to extend love. We seek to be strong more for the purpose of not being needy, rather than because it is our natural state. We offer “alms to the poor” as our bargain with the universe to protect us.

We have developed a culture which worships rising to greatness by overcoming adversity. The stronger or more painful the adversity overcome, the more we worship. There is the insane belief that those who have suffered much and attained, will be more kind, understanding and generous to those who still suffer much. The easier and more natural the expression of wholeness and power, the more we distrust and attack and attempt to defeat or overthrow.


We now have a world where more suffering creates more safety and support, and where the harder you have had to work and the more you have had to overcome, the less vulnerable you are to attack. That’s why forgiveness is a threat, both to the one currently suffering and the one who has overcome. If forgiveness is real, there is no excuse to suffer, and there will be an instant return to self-responsibility. And, if forgiveness is real, there is nothing that was ever really overcome, which leaves the now happy and healthy at the mercy of an attacking world.


Our work is to forgive and live, not condemn and die. It’s the old dilemma of who lays down their arms first and, “can you trust enough to be that vulnerable?”  This is the stuff of martyrs. They did the right and noble thing and the other guys not only did not lay down arms, but attacked. That’s the glue-story that holds the old paradigm together. Whenever we reach this point of recognizing the game and being able and willing to choose for Truth, we remember, or are reminded of, those who went before on this same path and the price they paid.

We need to stop glorifying the martyr and stop projecting our own experience on the stories of the saints. We need to know, even more clearly and strongly, that nothing real can be threatened. It is only our belief in pain and suffering that creates those experiences in us and creates our perception of those experiences in others. Somehow, we need to call the game and not allow ourselves to be hurt.
When I believe in this whole worldly drama, I want to die. That’s the only logical conclusion to the scenario. Some die sooner, some later. Some die happier, some in more pain. Some leave simply and quietly, some suffer. Each of those vignettes is glorified by some religion, or sect or group. It matters not. The result is always the same—death.


The more I affirm eternal life, my right to fully live, the more it seems that life, the world and my body create challenges, as if to say, “How dare you question (threaten) the established order of this world? Believe in all of this and see the error of your ways.” My experiences then, represent my internal conflict about what is really true. I notice that I begin “working hard” at living as a denial of death, rather than just being fully alive.

In those times when I have just been alive, caught up in a moment of joy or love or creativity, I transcend the pain and suffering as well as the reward and success, and experience a taste of eternal life as it was given to us by our creator. The mind says (and, therefore, proves) that we can’t live like that forever. The truth is that is the only way we can live forever. It is also, quite probably, the only way we would be willing to live forever.

Who could bear the thought of eternal life as an extension of how we have mostly experienced life in this world? Most of our choices and experiences in this world are tolerable only because they have an end. Until we choose for love and forgiveness as our only response and our entire focus of being, the concept of time will remain to protect us from experiencing an eternity of hell. When we no longer make temporary or expedient choices, time will cease to exist and death will be an unnecessary concept.Until then, how do we best live? Choose for joy and a life of serving love. Support those who appear to need no worldly support with your love, your joyful thoughts, with trust and freedom. Remember that God’s will for you is perfect happiness and choose accordingly. Let go of using “stories”. Let go of growth and development and working on it. Stop searching for enlightenment and let it dawn on you. Resist not evil or error, but rejoice in the light. Where the sun shines, there is no darkness.

From the Tao of Robert:
How is it that the little limit the great?
The slow outpace the swift?
The weak defeat the strong?
The empty cup,
Having a hole at its base,
Can drain the fullest vessel.
The rains do not delay
To give slow farmers time to plant.
Winter does not wait
To protect late-maturing fruit.
The flowing river,
Upon reaching a precipice,
Does not consider the earth below before plunging over.
The sun rises
Even if men still sleep.
Thus, the wise man waits for no one
And serves all.

What do we do with physical discomfort and pain? Notice it and refuse to use it as a tool or an excuse to either get what we want or to avoid what we don’t want. Respond with attention to the body when it becomes a distraction and use that call to love yourself and offer love to those with whom you interact. Find ways to let the truth be known that this call is a gift so that you can affirm the truth for yourself and your world. As much as possible, move through the inconvenience, choosing for love and joy, doing what you are called to do—what has heart and meaning—giving yourself to your world.


Physical, mental or emotional pain are all signs of being off purpose. You must be willing to let go of all you have been holding dear which is actually holding you in fear. Pain is an insistent call to imagine (image within) a life so full of joy and so on purpose that we would be willing to live it forever. Although it is much harder to imagine that world than it is to hold the mistaken images you have adopted, it is much easier to live that life than it is to continue your current struggle for existence.


What if we were to simply change our minds and move our lives back on purpose? In addition to separating ourselves from the rest of our world and setting ourselves up for attack, there is also the part of the mind which judges ourselves for the foolishness of apparently wasted time and for being so stupid as to have believed in the illusion for as long as we did. The internal threat to our peace and safety is more potentially damning than the external threats (knowing that our internal states create our perception of external reality).


There is no true forgiveness which does not include the erasure of the mind. Anything even dimly remembered is not forgiven. The only true and complete healing is the state where there is no memory of ever not being healed and whole. You cannot both forgive and remember. You cannot both fully trust and still protect yourself in some way. You cannot wholly know the truth and still believe in any part of the illusion. You cannot be totally free in only part of your life.


It is like a bird in flight. In order for flight to occur, the earth must be left behind. For many, the leap of faith is frightening and life threatening. For those who know and trust their ability to fly free, it is exhilarating. Just as most baby birds need to be initially pushed from the nest for their first flight, so we use the world to push us into our own experience of our “moment of truth”. Where we differ from birds and the natural order is in the use of our minds. Our mind is potentially the greatest tool for freedom and it is also the biggest block to responding to the call for freedom when it comes. The bird, knowing nothing else, instinctively opens its wings and flies. Human beings, knowing too much else, override instinct and block the God-given, natural ability to soar above the illusion and experience freedom. In our choice to see ourselves as victim, we crash and burn.


Because the power of love which created us may be occluded, but cannot be overcome by the world of illusion, we rise again—Phoenix-like—with the opportunity to choose again, to see things differently, to forgive ourselves and our self-created illusion and return to our natural state.
Sometimes, in our inability to totally forgive, we cannot let go of feeling hurt. Forgetting is a form of temporary forgiveness. Since death is a form of both denial and forgetting, we choose to “die” in an attempt to start over with a clean slate. We move, leave relationships, change jobs and even physically die. We give ourselves repeated opportunities to get enough momentum in the direction of truth so that we can easily spot and overcome error when it presents itself. It is said “Denial is a powerful protective device. You can and should deny that error can hurt you.” (ACIM)


Because death never really changes anything, we will ultimately be faced with that which we thought we left behind. Hopefully, we have grown stronger in our remembrance and recognition of the truth so that we can really let go the next time. We will ultimately succeed because no illusion can hide the truth in us forever. We will ultimately forgive all of our mistaken perceptions and return to love. We can forgive now or we can forgive in a later now. It is all the same, in truth, but it is a very different experience in time. The earlier in time we forgive, the sooner we return to joy and an experience of life we are willing to have be eternal. We can choose to be happy pioneers, leading the way for our world (“Forgive now, avoid the rush.”) or we can choose to hang on to our misery a little longer yet, until forgiveness is more in vogue and appears to be easier.


Forgiveness opens us to the experience of being willing to once again give freely of ourselves (“Life is forgiving and you are the gift.”) and to recognize and fully receive the abundant gifts being presented to us in every moment.

From the Tao of Robert:
Water poured into an empty vessel
Greatly depletes its source
Before fullness is achieved.
The greater the emptiness,
The greater the danger to the source.
Water poured into a full vessel
Overflows immediately to good cause,
Bringing fullness to those also served
Without depleting the source.
The greater the fullness
The greater the joy to the source
And the greater the good to all.
The wise man
Knows to serve the mighty
So all whom they also touch are served.
To serve the weak
Encourages and supports weakness.
The great lake neither dries up nor empties
Because it is constantly renewed.
Many rivers bring it life.
It is open to fully giving
Because it fully receives.