Do You Live Sacrificially in a Narcissistic World?
When we were children, we may have wanted to do big things to serve in the world but we were too young. We hadn’t fully developed our own interests…and we couldn’t even drive yet.
As we grew up and entered the working world, we had such limited time to serve in any capacity since our off hours were taken up with doing household chores, hunting and gathering food for the week, and hopefully, sleeping.
When we married, our energy would now be given to establishing a home and, when children came along, we would be serving them 24/7.
Even now, we wonder how WE can better the world.
If we are in relatively good health, the possibilities of being able to serve are endless. Even if we aren’t in good health, there are a multitude of ways we can serve including WRITING.
Please meet Marie Abdalla, now 96 years old, an excellent example of someone who has been serving for her entire life.
Mary, always a single woman, served her community by devoting 43 years to her banking profession. She became the first female bank manager in 1968 at a bank in Detroit. She then became the first female bank vice president there in 1972. She became the first female president of the American Institute of Banking in 1987.
Mary is no slouch!
When Mary retired, did she seek solitude and enjoyment of solely personal pursuits? No, she has kept busy with 15 godchildren and 90 relatives to whom she is Aunt Mary. (Even I call her Aunt Mary although I only know her from a distance through her two grown nieces.)
Did she stop there, focusing on ‘just’ family?
NO, Mary had always enjoyed sewing so it was in that area that she has chosen to serve. Over the years, she has been in sewing groups that made lap robes, wheelchair and walker accessories, and baby blankets.
In addition to the group sewing projects, Mary has personally sewn over 6500 dresses for underprivileged girls and women in Africa for a group called Little Dresses for Africa.. Friends and family donate fabric to keep her storehouses filled with bright pieces of color to cut, stitch, and send out into the world.
Mary is only one example of someone serving. There are many we can think of — the tutors, grandparents, the craftspeople keeping the old arts and crafts alive, the historians who teach classes to the community about what once was, serving the hungry…. Some even serve internationally, going with mission groups or locally with Habitat for Humanity. Some are artists, sending beauty out into the world.
No, we are never too young or too old to serve in some capacity!
Jesus said: “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”
— Matthew 20:28
The next time you consider what YOU could be doing to serve, just think of Mary and the army of others who love to serve.
You can be one of many who make our world a better place.
Serve the Lord with reverent fear…. Psalm 2:11
Information about Mary Abdulla was provided by her niece, Mona Esse Ruse, and by a Clinton, Michigan Twp. Proclamation.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
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Dawn Ulmer is the author of the recently published
