SELF STUDY

Monthly Focus~ 

Service is…

The law of service is to give of your overflow, to give of your abundance, not to give to where you go into lack.

It’s really the simple way that makes the difference. And a simple way does not call itself forward into the world to get recognition, to be known, to be named, to get rewarded or to get an award. It lives to do the action (of service) because it loves being in the flow of Loving, that flow of Loving that you first connect to by closing your eyes and going inside and connecting to that which you are – The Divine Living Loving Essence of the Lord.

Full Excerpt ~

True service is first service to yourself and your meditation. 

The first service is to sit down and meditate. Give ten percent of the day to the Lord. Give some time to God each day. What does it mean when God said, “Have no other gods before me”? So, sit down and have no other God before you than God. And what is God, but Love. 

So, have nothing before you but Loving. Be in the Loving and focus into the Loving and let the Loving live in you and move in you and transform you, because that’s what God is and that’s what God does if you allow God’s Loving in. 

So, the first level of service is to yourself in meditation. The next level of service is to yourself and how you live that meditation into the world. Begin to be a living prayer. Take the Loving that begins to live in you in your meditation and begin to live it in the world and love everyone around you. You don’t have to like them.

Boy, when I learned that one, that was a great one, because I thought, “Oh God, I have to love my enemies?” So, I thought I had to like them. And then one day, I was talking to a minister at a Baptist church and he said, “So, what is it that you have learned here so far?” I said, “To love your enemy as yourself, to love your enemy.” And he says, “Oh, that’s a big one, and what are you doing with that?” I said, “I don’t like it because I don’t like loving my enemy because I don’t like them.” And he said, “Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You don’t have to like them. You just have to love them.” And when I realized that I don’t have to like them, that was pretty nice because I realized I didn’t have to be around them. I could love them from afar, but I didn’t have to have them as my friend living with me, working with me, going to school with me or whatever that might be.

I learned a great deal from that Baptist minister that day – that I did not have to like my enemy, I just was to love them; not to judge them, not to create separation with them, but to love them and accept them just as they are, but then, choose how I want to participate with them. So, that’s the next level of service. And then after taking the loving both to God and then into your daily life is look to see how can that loving be expressed in your daily life in a greater way. 

If you have a mate in the world, then that’s where your loving next goes – is to love your mate and hopefully like them too. That’s another where I learned, because I watched a lot of people out there that love their mates, but they don’t like them and I learned a lot from watching that dynamic go on.

So, love your mate, and also find a way to like them if you don’t, so that you can be in the loving and in a like with them and really have companionship and friendship and fellowship with them. Then you move the loving to your children if you have children. Then you move that loving on out to your extended family called your parents, called your grandparents, your aunts, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, your nieces, your nephew – all of that, which is your family. 

And then, if there’s time and energy and loving left over, you extend that loving on out into the world – and that is another level of service.

Now, what is the service that I’m talking about? Oftentimes when people hear the word service in the context of Spirit, they immediately see themselves as doing good in the world. “I’ve got to go out and I’ve got to do good. I’ve got to go feed the hungry. I’ve got to go clothe the naked. I’ve got to go and take care of the ill. I’ve got to house those that don’t have houses. I’ve got to do all these things.” But that’s not what it’s really talking about. 

It’s being loving and then seeing how that loving wants to manifest in you and through you. First, it’s in meditation, then with yourself, then with your mate and your children. 

Now, you may find that somewhere in there that the expression of service pretty well stops and has its boundaries right there. 

Your day is full:

• You’re loving God in meditation. 
• Then you’re loving yourself as you get up and go do the day. 
• You’re loving your mate as you do the day. 
• You’re loving your children by being responsible and loving and caring with them. 
• And part of that action is also going to work and making the money or taking care of the house or whatever it might be in the day. 

And you might find right there your boundaries are pretty well defined as far as what service looks like because your day is full and maybe even overflowing in this action of service.

But you may find it also extends out and all of a sudden you have an in-law living with you, or you’re going over to the in-laws to cut the grass because they can’t do that anymore, and so your service boundaries grow a little bit more in order to do that. But, in all of that, it’s called take care of yourself. Don’t hurt yourself. Don’t give falsely.

If you give falsely, you don’t hurt yourself only, you hurt the other person because you’re not really giving out of love. You’re giving out of need, out of expectation, out of greed and then it creates an element that is no longer loving. It is hurtful. It is hurtful to yourself and it is hurtful to the one that you’re doing it with and to. 

So, be aware that true service is Loving. And service can also be a process of sharing – sharing your wisdom, sharing your loving, sharing your talents, and sharing your money.

You may find that you have a friend who has MS and so you feel that you want to start giving to the MS Society that they might be able to have the funds by which to do the research to heal your friend and to heal all the people that have MS. Or you may see something on TV that stirs you to give to a certain hospital such as St. Jude’s. Or you may be on a plane coming back from another country, and there on your dinner plate there’s a little envelope saying, “Give us your change that you cannot use anymore and can’t exchange. Give us your foreign currency to UNICEF, and we will put it to use in feeding the hungry children.” So, that’s another form of service. 

But the law of service is to give of your overflow, to give of your abundance, not to give to where you go into lack.

God doesn’t say, “Give me ninety percent and then go do ten percent.” God says, “Give me ten percent and then go do the ninety percent.” So, it is in your life. If you’re giving money to some place, give of the overflow. Don’t give where you hurt yourself. Take care of yourself first and then if you want to give, give of the overflow. 

In the Kabbalistic tradition, it is taught that you cannot give more than ten percent and you could only give ten percent if giving that ten percent does not hurt your well-being and your family’s well-being. But you cannot give more than ten percent according to Kabbalistic tradition and law, because then you’re giving selfishly – you’re giving out of greed and need for recognition and to make yourself feel better than others. 

So, it’s learning these qualities and expressions of service and how that looks. And if you keep focused on Loving through your meditation and Loving through self-study, both the inner and the outer, and focus on Loving as the key thread of service, you will always find yourself coming into balance in all those areas of your life.

But if you focus on other elements, you will find yourself going out of balance and all of a sudden your wife or your husband is going to be saying, “You never give me time anymore. You’re always so busy going over and doing this organization, and taking care of these people, and worrying about the neighbors, and doing church stuff. What about us? What about me?” 

So, it’s realize that there is a flow to this action and it’s finding that flow and living in that flow and recognizing your boundaries in that and living within that. Don’t expect yourself to do what your neighbor is doing. Maybe your neighbor is doing tremendous things in the world as well as with their family, and that is their ability both inward and outward, but maybe that’s not who you are. Maybe you are one who focuses in a different way, in a different expression and it doesn’t have the grandeur that their life has. Let that be okay.

It’s really the simple way that makes the difference. And a simple way does not call itself forward into the world to get recognition, to be known, to be named, to get rewarded or to get an award. It lives to do the action because it loves being in the flow of Loving, that flow of Loving that you first connect to by closing your eyes and going inside and connecting to that which you are – The Divine Living Loving Essence of the Lord.

Monthly Focus “going Home work” ~

1. 1. Do two and a half hours of daily meditation, and then listen to the CD talks titled:  THE THREE FOLD PATH CD  by Jim Gordon.
   2. Listen to the guided meditation after Jim’s talk by Jim Gordon from: THE THREE FOLD PATH CD
   3. Journal focus for this month ~ Reflect on Jim’s sharing above and journal:

• Where in your life are you giving from your overflow of loving in service? 
• Where in your life are you giving out of lack in service?
• How can you create balance in all areas of your life by walking this Three Fold Path of Meditation, Self-Study and Service?

Contemplation…

• So, it’s learning these qualities and expressions of service and how that looks. And if you keep focused on Loving through your meditation and Loving through self-study, both the inner and the outer, and focus on Loving as the key thread of service, you will always find yourself coming into balance in all those areas of your life.