We feel purpose and value when we allow others to find theirs.

Throughout my college years it has been evident that you, I, all of us live in a culture and a time where a majority of our energy and focus has been placed on ourselves. We’re posting, tweeting, snapping, recording the most important moments of our own lives. We are at a constant exposure of you guessed it. . . ourselves.

In order to seem desirable with our social media profiles we have to post pictures that make us look attractive and fun. We have to take the same picture over and over just to get the perfect lighting, angle and depiction of our self. Oh, but don’t forget that solid caption that we have to conjure up so that we are not just an attractive face, but our follower base knows that we have a little creativity or wittiness to ourselves as well.

We cannot spend all day worried about our social media because guess what? Being pretty alone won’t land us that job we will need to pay for all of our amenities we desperately require to live comfortable and above our means. We then have to think about how we can now refocus our attention from our social media self, and readjust to think about our professional self so that we can afford experiences and materials for again, ourselves.

Ultimately, we become the main attraction of our own lives. This is not a post to shame and wave fingers placing blame on us, because we are a product of our environment. However, if you ever ask someone about the highlights of their life, or their purpose it never seems to focus on self. Our purpose typically revolves around serving others and helping others. Allowing others to see the value of their life shown through our actions of love.

We feel purpose and value when we allow others to find theirs.

Take a moment to remind yourself of how good it has felt to make someone else feel special. Take a moment to reflect on the highlights of your own life realize and the one common denominator is other people. These moments give us clarity and remind us that experiencing life serving and doing life with others in community is where we find our true selves.

If this is truly where we flourish the most, what would happen if we looked to spend more time seeking actions of service instead of focusing on ourselves?

We were not created to live life alone, we were not created to make ourselves the center of our own lives. To be great in this world you must be able to fight for something bigger than yourself. It’s the reason why New Year resolutions and new workout plans to get tight, get right – 2017 don’t work, simply because we were not created to serve ourselves. The motivation and desire will only last so long.

You can’t be the ‘self’ you want to be when you know the truth of God. How many stories in the bible document Jesus serving himself? It always is focused and tailored to his gift and service to others. If it is our goal to be Christ-like, then what are we waiting for?

Someone out there is waiting for you to be the light in their life.