The First Shall Be...

Matthew 20:16 states "So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (NIV) The same statement is made in Mark 10:31 and Luke 13:30. There are also myriad references to serving others, so this week, the assignment to make this world a better place is to put others before your own interests.

Some suggestions for you are:

• Let someone go ahead of you in line (this can be at the grocery store in the checkout lane, theater queue, etc.)
• When driving, leave the right lane open at stoplights so that someone turning right on red doesn't have to wait to turn because you are ahead of them in the lane waiting for the green light to go straight 
• If only one item remains, let someone else have it (this could be an item at the grocery store that someone else also wants, the last helping of a dish at a family meal, etc.)
• Let the person behind you have the best parking space
• Allow someone else to decide where to go to dinner or what activity to do, for example  

Now that you have a good idea of what to do to serve others and put them before yourself, do it more than once this week. You can even begin a daily journal like I have. Just buy a simple lined journal, diary, or even a spiral notebook, and section it as in the example below.

MAY
1 ________________________________________________________________________
2_________________________________________________________________________
3_________________________________________________________________________
etc.

The benefit of a journal is to make certain you are consciously doing something daily to make this world a better place. You can even look over the past 4 weeks and repeat some of those assignments.

My personal journal entries for last week included: buying extra soaps from Bath & Body Works to give to three women for Mother's Day, praised a store clerk to her supervisors for her outstanding customer service, and I offered to help pack boxes for someone who is moving.

As always, I would love to hear what you are doing!