In2theRiver

Good morning from Westminster, MD!

This past Sunday, I was having a conversation with my 9-year-old daughter and she said, “Tomorrow is the official start of summer!” My daughter was referring to the calendar changing from May to June. I reminded her that summer “officially” begins on June 21st where we live in the United States, but that she is more or less correct from a real-life experience standpoint. She said, “I know, dad, but it basically is summer when June starts.”

Depending on where you live, you probably agree with my daughter. Sure, summer doesn’t really begin until June 21st, but once the calendar says June 1st, summer has arrived in your mind. I know that is true for me. Where I live, the school year ends in about a week, pools are opened, and summer plans are top of mind. While my day-to-day life as far as work doesn’t change a lot in the summer, I do try to be more intentional about taking a step back and spending time with family. This is especially true now that I have young children and they are out of school for their summer break.

In many ways, summer can be an opportunity to recharge. I wrote about this specifically in a post a couple of years ago (click here to read the post). Many of the ways I try to recharge involve leisure such as vacation or a day excursion with my family. However, serving others can actually be another way to fill your tank, and summer can be a great time to do it. This is something I learned as a kid from my parents and carried into adulthood.

There is something about helping others that can be energizing and life-giving in a very unique way. When we take our eyes off of our own challenges, lift our heads up, and truly see others and the struggles they face, it can give us perspective. If you are anything like me, when you are hyper-focused on your own issues, you probably tend to feel more anxious and discontented. One of the best ways I have found to break out of this place is serving someone else. As I describe in my book Hope Realized, when we bring hope to others, we tend to find more hope for ourselves. It’s a beautiful and life-producing cycle. In fact, I believe it is the way we are designed to work, but that is a post for another time.

The truth is most people would agree with the fact that serving adds to our lives. So, why don’t more people do it? I think it is often the process of getting started that holds people back. Maybe this is where you find yourself today. If I asked you if you want to make a difference and live for something more than yourself more than likely you would without hesitation answer yes. It is figuring out the “best way” to step into it that is stopping you. Well, I have found the best way to get started is just to get started!

How you do that? I have good news! I do not claim to be an expert, but I do have a lot of experience with serving, both in the United States and internationally in Nicaragua. Using my experiences, I developed a guide called “5 Foundational Steps to Make a True Difference in Someone’s Life”. In the guide, I walk you through the same process I followed as I decided to become more engaged in serving and bringing hope to others, all broken into five easy steps. You can access the guide for free by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post, but I am also going to provide a quick overview of the steps in the next posts. I hope this encourages you to step into serving this summer! Now, here are the first two steps.

Understand Your Story

This may seem like a strange starting point, but understanding your own story will help you have a better appreciation of the stories and reality of others. As you examine your story, look for ways in which hope has played a role in your life. Were you given a real opportunity that helped you take a step forward such as financial resources, access to education, training, or a job? Did someone in your life help you discover your gifts? Did someone help you understand that you are full of potential?

Often, we have a tendency to unintentionally disassociate from the people we are serving. We are happy to serve them, but we are not like them. By gaining clarity on our own story and the opportunities we had, it becomes easier to understand how we could have had the same life as the person we are serving had our circumstances been different. Instead of being a cause, they become a person filled with the same God-given potential as we are.

This happened to me while serving in Nicaragua and it gave me a greater sense of hope for the people I was working with and led me to the next step.

Be Curious

By better understanding your story and appreciating the God-given potential inside others, it might lead you to become more curious about the brokenness in the world and how to make a difference. This is a great next step. It is important to have an open mind to understand an issue and make a difference. This includes about the way you think about the world and the people who live in it. Do you see the world as mostly hopeful or hopeless? Do you think this could impact your ability to help and provide hope to others? Where does poverty exist in your sphere of influence (neighborhood, community, city, church, school, etc.)?

These questions and others can put a person in a position to be better equipped to help someone else. When we are curious, we are much less likely to allow assumptions to stop us from seeing the real issues. It also puts us in a position to ask more questions and empathize with others. Being curious also forces us to confront potential lies we believe about the world and others that could impact our ability to make a difference. Oftentimes, these lies live beneath the surface and require intentionality to root out.

This was critical when I was serving in Nicaragua. I spent the first few months being curious about the people I was serving and my perspective on them. By taking these steps, I was in a much better position to serve them. I did not see them as “less than” or hopeless but rather as people created with equal God-given potential who needed the same things I did for it to be fully released.

These are the first two of five steps to help you get started with serving this summer. In the next post, I will cover the other three steps. Be on the lookout and happy serving this summer!

James Belt

Click here for more resources to help you bring hope to others, including more information about the free guide and my book, Hope Realized!