A little over a week ago, a small group of student leaders and advisers from the Center for Service and Learning loaded inside a couple of BYU rental vans and bounced down to Cedar City for a retreat. It was your standard leadership training, group bonding, individually motivating two-day drill-the kind of thing uber-involved (and arguably over-involved) students thrive on. There was food, there was networking, there were several grandiose pledges made to do things like "collaborate" and "synergize." And, for at least one particular overachiever, there was a moment of clarity.
Why do you serve?-This question has been posed to me and the other student leaders at the Service Center countless times. We had all answered it before. We had all replied with some half-hearted mumble on some other occasion. But that night, in the midst of that harmlessly pretentious retreat, we all unknowingly tapped in to a kind of magical sincerity.
One said she serves, because she has a great life. She feels blessed and knows she needs to give back. One said that when he was young, someone rendered a great act of service on his behalf. It changed how he saw the world. Another said he serves because he feel's the Savior's love. When you feel loved, he said, service comes naturally.
Me? I serve because I feel-every moment of every day-a deep and compelling need to be transformed into something else, something better. The Atonement and service work the same way. As soon as you dedicate yourself to utilizing the Atonement, as soon as you dedicate yourself to serving others, you allow the transformative power embodied in those acts to take over in your life. You are changed, little by little, from someone who is selfish, lazy, and impatient to some one who is generous, hard-working, meek, humble, and so much more. It is by no means an easy process. The refining power of service can be challenging and even painful at times. It stretches you. It expands what you have. It leaves you a more powerful being-a more Christ-like being-than before.
The Center for Service and Learning is by no means a perfect organization. It is made up of imperfect people equip with good intentions and simple testimonies of service's transformative power. I urge all who feel unsettled with their current selves, all who sense a need to be moved or even jolted out of personal stagnancy, to walk in to the Y-Serve Office, visit the Web site or even just find small ways to serve those already a part of your lives. Slowly and quietly, it will make you someone new.
Copyright Brigham Young University 27 May 2008
