Often in our everyday jobs there can be great ways to serve our communities

Here at Zim’s we are enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend to relax and spend time with family and friends. However, we also want to make sure to remember the purpose of the day to pay tribute to those who died while serving in United States Armed Forces. These men and women soldiers sacrificed everything to defend freedom and are surely some of the best of us. So what can we do to honor their memory and make the world a better place? While perhaps not as monumental, there are lots of little ways we can become a hero to those around us, an everyday hero. The first step is to live life looking for opportunities to serve. A friend of mine prays each day to find someone to serve and more often than not she does. Even if you aren’t a religious person having a focus on service will help you be aware of those who you can help, even if it is just a smile or a quick word of encouragement.

Helping at your local animal shelter can be a wonderful and rewarding way to serve

The second step is to find ways to volunteer. Whether it is in the schoolroom of a child or helping at a homeless shelter there are lots of worthy organizations who need help. There are even service clubs on meetup.org or other sites that can make the process more fun and be a nice way to make friends. The third step is to not be afraid to go where you are needed. It can be scary and awkward to help others and often we let fear of the unknown stop us. A friend of mine had a limited budget and decided she could make sandwiches and take them down to give to the homeless. This was definitely going out of her comfort zone but she did it and now many people join her each week to make and give sandwiches.

The fourth step is not discount the many ways you are serving that are easy to brush aside as nothing. I run a podcast in my free time and each week I have guests who join me to talk about various topics. For them it might be just a fun way to spend an evening but to me it’s a great gift of service. It’s the same for mother’s making dinner for their family or a Dad sacrificing time at work to watch his child play soccer. These are acts of service we should recognize and express gratitude when they are given in behalf of us. A simple thank you can be the best service we can do all day.

The world can be a challenging place sometimes but if we look for small ways to serve those around us we will find great joy, peace and fulfillment. As any great service will do, it will become a great blessing we will get more out of than we ever contribute. Everyday heroes are perhaps the most important because they are so easily taken for granted but let’s try this Memorial Day to say thank you for the ones in our life and try to do better to become one for those around us. Have a happy and fulfilling day. Who is an everyday hero in your life? We’d love to hear your story in the comments section