Often times finding peace and other qualities of a good life feel too ambiguous. Debora Fletcher; a full-time mother of 10, public speaker, and author interviews guests on her podcast, At Peace Today, about how to obtain those qualities. With real-life applications and stories, you will be relieved to find it isn’t just possible to live a life of peace and fulfillment but closer than you expected.
In one podcast episode focused on the topic of love, Debora Ruano Fletcher speaks with her sister, Melca Ruano Arkell about loving and serving others. Debora mentions that her sister is an example of real love and talks with her sister about selfless service and its application to charity, the pure love of Christ.
Debora shared with her sister some concepts from the book, Real Love, by Greg Baer, M.D., (linked to an Amazon affiliate url) that deal with service to others. One section of this book explains that once we feel the unconditional love of the Savior in our lives,
“…we’re no longer blinded by emptiness and fear and then we can see other people clearly. When we see people as they really are, accepting them becomes natural and effortless. As we accept people – without criticism or expectation – we unavoidably develop a concern for their happiness, and that is the definition of Real Love.” (Baer 136).
People who know that Christ loves them will be concerned for others and want to serve them and bring happiness to their lives, without criticizing them or expecting anything in exchange.
Debora reminded her sister of a time when Melca had just experienced a miscarriage and was physically very ill. Without calling beforehand, a neighbor brought her children over to Melca’s home, and said she had an emergency and wondered if Melca would babysit the children.
Melca with her husband, Dan, and their 12 children. Photo credit Jayli Bowles Photogrpahy
Despite being very sick, and to Debora’s disbelief, Melca agreed to babysit the children for free, and the children stayed with Melca for over 5 hours.
Christ advocated this type of unconditional service even to those who take advantage of us or use us. Christ wasn’t a pushover, but he regularly served his enemies and those who cursed him and hated him. In Matthew, he said,
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Christ served and blessed His enemies during his life. God constantly serves even the children who hate Him, are working at cross purposes to Him, and who take advantage of Him. We should demonstrate the same kind of love. “As I have loved you, love one another.” That’s why Melca’s act of service to her neighbor was worthwhile.
Elaine Jack explained why some people are so willing to serve others, even those who may seem to be taking advantage of them. One of the main reasons is because the righteous may not even consider their actions to be “service.” She said,
the righteous d[o]n’t seem to realize that they are following the Savior in the service they give to others… (they have) developed the attributes of charity to such a degree in their lives that it [i]s just natural for them to take care of the others around them. They… [don’t] stop to think, “Oh, I am giving service.” They [a]re probably busy living every day of their lives in a way that demonstrate[s] that charity [i]s the foundation of all their actions.
When someone is filled with the gift of charity, they look for opportunities to help not only the people they love and care about, but the people who they would normally avoid. A great many people who need help and service are people that most others would want to avoid.
Real Love is demonstrated when we serve those people who haven’t done anything to deserve that service and who will not serve us in return.
Debora’s conversation with Melca can be found on YouTube. Follow the link here to watch the entire interview.