Last week, I attended the funeral of a woman that I knew when I was very young. She was the mother of some of the first friends that I ever made. I had not seen her in a very long time, but I got to hear about an interesting turn of events in her life that I never knew. The story was being told by the preacher who was giving her body the final rights.

Several years ago, the preacher was a destitute and lived in a shanty village that exists at the valley of a dirty river that goes round some of the most sordid residential areas in Nairobi. However, each morning the man would pick an accordion and walk for around 10 kilometers to a relatively affluent residential areas. He would stand at a particular spot and play his beloved instrument until evening, when he would pack it inside a leather case and head back to his ghetto residence. He used to do that because he had heeded God’s voice telling him to do so.

One day, a woman appeared out of the blue and literally adopted him. She rented a modest house for him near her own house, furnished it and started taking care of all his financial needs. She then asked him to start a church and with her help, he organized some believers from the area to set up one of the most formidable sanctuaries in the area. During the funeral, one could see that the man had suffered as big a loss as any of her other children, but you could also see some light behind his eyes that told of determination to continue with the work they had started together.

There is a televangelist called Joyce Meyer that would impress even the biggest religious skeptic with her teachings. It is perhaps due to the simple way that she packages her lessons using daily examples of human struggle that would make a person who might not want anything to do with Jesus Christ pause for a while to listen. On many occasions, Joyce gives examples from her life with her husband called David. She talks about daily struggles with negative emotions and other undesirable human traits by quoting direct examples from her life with David. Unlike many mystical preachers who take great pride in presenting their ‘beautiful’ wives and ‘wonderful’ kids, or others who do not even bother to acknowledge them, Joyce has a great way of presenting herself first as an ordinary human being, and you can see that she is grateful to have a helper such a David to support her. She is never threatened by his quiet strength and acknowledges it on many occasions.

There are many people who disqualify themselves from service after recognizing that they do not posses the skills or qualities they admire in others around them who make a difference. For example, many people do not think that they have leadership skills that are essential to any person who hopes to influence others. And so they wonder what they are suitable for.

One of the most powerful ways that a person can serve is by supporting another. To a person who aspires to make a difference and yet does not have the stomach for the turmoil that comes with it, helping another to serve is very fulfilling. Even without being acknowledged in public like Joyce Meyer’s David or Preacher man’s ‘beautiful wife’, one is quite satisfied by doing the job to the best of their abilities.

Do you have children? Helping them to grow into all rounded human beings with adequate physical, mental and spiritual strength is an incredible responsibility. It is even more so these days when there is enormous pressure from negative influences threatening to sweep away every single lesson in positivity we try to teach. Nowadays being a full time Mom, or a full time Dad, takes as much effort and determination as is required to answer any other calling that a person might receive. Leaving behind a successful career for any reason always is a difficult decision to make. However, leaving behind a successful career to bring up one’s own children could turn out to be the most fulfilling sacrifice ever made in a person’s life.

Most people want to serve and to make a difference. But not everyone is flamboyant enough to stand at a podium and give a “I have a dream” speech. Not everyone will fit into a Little Sisters Of Mercy uniform and jump into the nearest ghetto to feed the hungry. Not everyone has children of their own to mold. And obviously some spouses try to stay as far away from the pulpit as they possibly can, and so one might not be able to be their spiritual helper. What to do?

No one should ever stop indulging that voice that keeps telling us that we can make a difference. Each one of us has a unique way of doing it that is just waiting to be discovered and allowed to grow. Let us pray to God to help us walk away from vanity and give us the courage to be what we need to be.