“Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” 1 Peter 4:10

There is no doubt that we are meant to serve others. Not only does God call us to do so, but serving others is good for our emotional well-being.  When we help others, we feel confident in our abilities.  We feel like we have something valuable to offer the world.  And that naturally makes us happier as individuals.

But sometimes we serve others in the wrong way. We serve others in a way that isn’t authentic to who we are.  Women are particularly susceptible to this issue.  Women are expected to naturally be able to cook, take care of a home and rear children.  But not all women are suited to that kind of service.  And asking people to do what doesn’t come naturally to them is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.  It doesn’t work.

The key to living an authentic life of service is to use the unique gifts that God has given you. No one has your same gifts.  No one!  God gave you special talents for a reason – to bless others.  So our challenge is to avoid getting caught up in the world’s expectations of how we should serve.  Instead, we each need to figure out our unique way to make the world a better place.

Of course, there are certain things that we have to do as part of being responsible individuals. We have to take care of our families and our homes.  And we have to be self-supporting.  So, that means there is some drudgery involved in life.  But it is important to not do more drudgery than necessary!  For instance, if you don’t enjoy cooking, then don’t spend time baking bake pies and cookies!  No one in your family needs pies and cookies.  They just need three healthy meals each day.  Save your time to instead pursue activities that are related to your special gifts.

You should be spending as much of each day as possible doing those things that you are good at. There are lots of ways to do that.  One way is to figure out how to make money doing what you enjoy.  Then use that money to free up your time.  For example, if you are gifted at quilting, sell your quilts and use that money to have someone clean your house.  Your quilts will be a blessing to those who are lucky enough to enjoy them.  And your time is better spent quilting (or teaching others to quilt) than doing housework.

In our homes, we should figure out what each member of the household is good at and then divide the chores accordingly. The person who hates cooking simply should not be cooking every night.  Rather, the person who enjoys cooking should be using his or her talents to serve the family in that way.  Families should divide chores in the way that one would run a business.  We always should have the “right” people doing the “right” tasks.

We all have been created to serve the world with our unique talents. When we do that, we are happier.  Life flows more smoothly because we are doing what God created us to do.  That is why it is so important to spend less time doing tasks that you don’t enjoy and aren’t good at and to spend more time on serving the world with the special gifts that God has given you.  By doing so, you will live an authentic life of service.