There is a difference between taking care of yourself and being self-serving. It does not make you a saint that you defer to others. Nor are you to be thinking whether you serve too much, give too much. There is a difference between fawning and serving. Serve mankind. Serve humanity. Serve Me. I tell you to do what makes you happy. Serve from the level you are. Service comes from your heart or it is not service.
Little by little, you will stretch your service to mankind. As your awareness rises, so will your service. Serve Me, and you serve mankind. There is more than one way to serve the Universe. You can only serve from the level of consciousness that you are presently at. There is no level of consciousness at which you cannot serve.
I suppose there is a fine line between serving at the height you presently serve in and stretching yourself to serve more. You can stretch yourself and still be true to yourself. You can stretch yourself from your desire to serve greater and not from a desire to look good. Serving Me and the Universe and your fellow man can give you great happiness. They alone can.
It is not necessary to divest yourself in order to serve. Serving is not sacrifice. Giving and sacrifice are not synonymous. Giving and joy are more like it. Even if you give anonymously, even if no one knows you are the giver, giving is meant to be joy. Give to your heart's content.
Too often the young child does not feel joy in sharing his toys. From his point of view, he was giving up something rather than giving something. Give joy, receive joy. This twin act of what is natural may have been subverted and may have to be learned. You may have to teach yourself.
Everything in nature is shared. Everything in nature is provided for. The monkeys in the trees drop half their food. They are, in fact, whether they are aware of it or not, feeding the ground animals who cannot climb trees. Dandelions, considered weeds, besides providing green leaves worthy of a king, also dig their strong roots deep into the soil, strengthening soil that needs strengthening. In joy, monkeys and dandelions provide for more than themselves, and, yet, they do reap expression and joy in themselves.
Everyone provides for others. Provide that which embraces and serves. There is a greater territory you serve than yourself alone. Of course, by now, you know that there is no such thing as yourself alone. You serve greater than you know, and yet you can know to serve.
It is not that others are to call your tune. You are the caller of your own tune, and yet you give your tune to others. Love, and be joyful. You are expressing the world to the world. Ultimately, you are expressing yourself to Me. Ultimately, you are serving Me, and that is how you serve others, the Universe, the world, your world, and yourself.
There is not one deed or thought that is not connected. Chain reaction is true. You, in your everyday commerce, set something off, enjoin something, support something, serve something, and you serve to the far corners of the world.
As there is no beginning and end to you, nor is there a beginning and end to your service. Before your physical birth on Earth, you served. After your birth, and after your so-called death, you serve. Serve in the name of happiness. Serve in the name of joy. Serve in the name of love spread out upon the Universe of Man, of twig, of tree, of land, of hill and dale, all in service to the continuity of love. Be smitten with love, and you have no choice but to share it. Share love and the constituents of love. What else is there to share?