The grace of giving back to Life.

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

(Rabindranath Tagore)

To join you in reading "Serving", we recommend

listening to "Reciprocity" from Yaima:

I am here

not to help anyone.

I am here

to serve.

I am here

to be my own self.

Being myself,

I serve.

Service

is not rescue.

Service

is not interference.

Service

is not the need

to be needed.

Service begins

when we are asked

to serve.

The butterfly

must open

from within.

The bud

must rise

in its own time.

Consciousness

must awaken

when the soul

is ready.

Whoever forces

the cocoon

kills the wing.

Whoever opens

the seed

destroys the flower.

Whoever wakes

what is not ready

confuses the dreamer.

Evolution happens

from the inside out.

We cannot help it.

We may only serve it.

If I am not asked,

I am not serving.

I may be

projecting.

I may be

invading.

I may be

trying to fix,

what was never mine

to repair.

No one needs my help.

They need my presence.

They need my truth.

They need my service.

Service

is always

temporary.

This too shall pass.

Nothing is forever.

The hand that appears

must also know

when to release.

The bridge that carries

must not become

a cage.

Once I have served,

I must let go.

I must not hold

what was only entrusted.

I must not claim

what came through me.

I must not confuse

the offering

with the self.

Service is natural.

Effortless.

It does not disturb

my peace.

It returns me

to peace.

It brings me

to joy.

It asks me for nothing

but presence.

Serving does not require

that I abandon myself.

Service does not require

that I diminish myself.

Service does not require

that I give from depletion.

To serve

is not to disappear.

To serve

is to become

more truly myself.

I am strong enough

to give

without taking.

I am whole enough

to offer

without needing anything

in return.

I expect nothing

in exchange.

I am serving.

Not being served.

And still,

the mystery remains.

The more I give,

the more I receive.

Not because

I bargain with Life.

Not because

I calculate with Spirit.

Not because

I give

in order to be given.

But because

reciprocity

is woven

into the living fabric

of all things.

Reciprocity.

Reciprocity

is not transactional.

Reciprocity

is not immediate.

Reciprocity

is not reciprocal.

Reciprocity

does not always return

from the one

to whom we gave.

It may return

as breath,

as rain,

as forgiveness,

as strength.

As a door opening

where no door

was visible.

Reciprocity

has no destinatary.

Only recipients.

It belongs

to the great circle.

To the unseen exchange

among all our relations.

To the sacred memory

of everything

we have received.

We give because

we recognise,

acknowledge,

and express,

our gratitude

for all that we have been given.

We serve

because Life

has served us first.

Through

earth.

Through

water.

Through

fire.

Through

air.

Through

ancestors.

Through

strangers.

Through

wounds

that became wisdom.

Through

Love

that arrived

without explanation.

To serve

is to remember.

To serve

is to return.

To serve is to recognise:

we have received,

we are grateful,

we are whole,

we are light

we are love.

Let all this

pass through me.

Let all this

bless where it needs be.

Let all this

leave me more peaceful.

Let all this

make me more myself.

For by giving myself,

without losing myself,

I am.

For by serving,

without possessing,

I am love

I am light.

May we learn to serve

without rescuing,

to give

without grasping,

and to leave

every offering

free.

May our service

be clear,

temporary,

joyful,

and true.

May what passes through us

bless others,

without taking us away

from ourselves.

Yo lo Creo/

I believe, and so it is