light it up

this year the church i belong to gave us the challenge of "lighting the world" through service through a 25 day calendar from december 1st, all the way until christmas. despite the constant text reminders, and the dozens of Instagram stories with the challenge of the day, i still managed to miss many days. however, when i took the challenge, it was so worth it. EVERY SINGLE TIME. most of the acts of service I did were pretty simple, and "basic": leaving uplifting sticky notes on people's cars, christmas caroling to the elderly, gathering cans for the food shelter, etc. butttt, that did not make them any less fulfilling. now, i am not here to brag about all the service i did, because i kid you not i missed more than half of the days of the challenge... BUT my point is as the new year comes up i am seeing so many dramatic rants on twitter and instagram about how people spent too much time in 2017 "caring too much about what people think" and that they are going to spend 2018 "focusing on themselves" and "doing what makes them happy." well that is just great. that is really great. now, i agree that life is better when people do not care what people think of them and are not trying to constantly impress others. however, i promise you that happiness never has and never will come from self-indulgence. it comes from genuine service. do not get me wrong i forget this all the time and end up reading in my room for hours trying to "find myself." but whenever i find myself in a rut, i always come to the same conclusion.. 

WE CAN FIND PURE JOY IN SERVING OTHERS

if anyone is having problems with boys, drama with friends, stress of school, or trouble with family.. focusing on others through service WILL help.

not that it makes any of those problems go away, but it lightens the load and assures that you can find peace and happiness even in the worst of times. i know that you've heard this concept in some form or another almost your entire life, but this idea isn't something that your parents stole off of an infomercial. its the REAL DEAL.

even though the world is already lit by december's challenge, let's not stop there. 

peace, love and blessings... and service haha,

-lex