By Joe Salvay, The Constant Contemplator
If you feel down on your luck — that everything is going wrong, or that you were born into the wrong family, or born into the wrong place in this world — born in the wrong country, or with the wrong abilities or no abilities — and you wonder how you are supposed to live your life…
Or maybe you had some talent and lost it. Maybe you were an athlete, and you were injured, or just got older and are no longer athletic anymore.
Whether you have talents, or don’t have talents, or had them and lost them — you still have a part to play in this world. You still have something to contribute.
You may not even know what it is. But simply by virtue of being alive, simply by being, by existing, you fulfill that role.
The poet John Milton wrote a sonnet called On His Blindness, in which he complains about not being able to see anymore, which is preventing him from writing poetry, from expressing his creative talent. He bemoans his fate. He feels sorry for himself and wonders how he’s supposed to write poetry without eyesight.
He frames it in a way that includes the concept of God — almost like arguing with God or praying to God. But what’s important is that the conclusion he comes to is that everyone serves, even without doing anything — just by virtue of being alive and existing.
We are all playing a part. We are all holding up the wheel of life as a spoke. We are a spoke in the wheel of life.
And the sonnet goes like this:
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
They also serve who only stand and wait.
The best example of this is a doorman. His job is to stand outside the door of some fancy building until somebody approaches the door. Then his job is to open that door, greet them, say good morning — whatever it may be.
But most of the time, he’s just standing around. He’s not opening the door most of the time. But for those few moments every day when he is opening the door, when he is greeting someone — that’s what he’s being paid for.
So all the downtime while he’s standing there waiting for someone to approach the door — he’s still serving. He’s still working. He’s still getting paid.
In other words, in our lives, even if we’re not able to do the thing that we would like to be doing — even if we can’t get the job that we believe we’re qualified for, even if we’re not able to serve others in the way that we would like to, for whatever reason — just having that attitude of wanting to be of service, of wanting to contribute, regardless of whether we actually contribute or get an opportunity to contribute or not, there is service in that attitude.
Just the desire, the feeling of wanting to be of service to others.
So if you’re out there job hunting, pounding the pavement, you want to serve a company or you want to serve an organization, but you haven’t yet been hired — what you’re doing is serving. By approaching the different companies and organizations, interviewing, going, jumping through the hoops — you’re performing a service. You’re like the doorman who’s waiting for someone to approach in order for you to open the door for them.
“Thousands at his bidding speed and post over land and ocean without rest.”
You look around in nature — there are always animals, insects, running around doing things. There’s no need for you to do what you want to do. There’s no need for you to serve in the way that you want to serve.
Just be available in case there’s an opportunity for you to serve.
Just by being open to an opportunity, just by having that attitude of wanting to be of service — that itself is serving. That itself is a service.
“God doth not need either man’s work or his own gifts.”
All the gifts that you can provide the world are God’s gifts, if you believe in God. They’re nature’s gifts.
You sell a bottle of water — all you’ve done is taken God’s water, or nature’s water, put it in a plastic container, slapped a label on it, and now you’re trading on it, you’re selling it.
God doesn’t need your work. Nature goes on without your work. It doesn’t need you to condescend to come down and, you know, and put in your two cents, your effort.
Nature goes on. Life goes on with or without your service.
So who needs your service?
You need your service. You’re the one who needs to be of service — to have purpose in your life, to live a life of meaning, to contribute, and of course, to be taken care of, to earn a salary or make a profit.
So whatever you do, or whatever you’re not able to do — doesn’t matter. As long as you maintain the attitude of wanting to serve, wanting to contribute — that will keep you sane. That will keep you balanced. And that will lead you to a path of success and progress.
They also serve who only stand and wait.
If you’re waiting to serve — you’re serving. That itself is service.
They also serve who only stand and wait.
Joe Salvay is