Authentic mission requires potential loss

What are you willing to sacrifice in order to truly fulfill your authentic mission?

Hopefully, compassion isn't on that list, but before you simply read on, really take a second to consider this.

Suppose you are on your way to an important interview, or meeting, or some other potentially life altering event, and you see someone stranded alongside the road. Would you stop? Would it make a difference if you were ahead of schedule or on schedule? What if you were running late? What if helping might cause your freshly pressed, tidy clothes to become soiled? Would that change your course of action?

Of course, most people would probably say that they would make the decision to help those in need, even when it could possibly come at a loss to themselves. In reality and application however, the story comes together somewhat differently. How many times have you been faced with this opportunity and simply kept on driving? Maybe, a brief pause is taken to say a prayer for those that are in need. Maybe.

What keeps you from answering the call to service when it is placed in your path? Fear of losing your job, or missing out on the once in a lifetime opportunity to better your career situation? What are you truly and authentically willing to sacrifice for others? Perhaps potentially missing your child's ball game or that dinner out with your spouse? You can be certain that you will be called to serve in the area where you are most likely to resist, and where there appears to be the greatest personal loss.

It is a challenge to not become so involved in the mission that you fail to serve those that you are here to serve. You must not forget, even for a moment, that the mission is not about yourself. It is about the people that you encounter daily. Living for others is going to cost you something, perhaps even everything.

If you can get to that place where you are living for others, more concerned about their well being than your own, you will be better equipped to understand the fullness of life that you have been designed for.