Patti Rayner of the Heartfelt Foundation

A Message from Patti Rayner of the Heartfelt Foundation
by Patti Rayner

Dear Family of God,

A beautiful quote by John-Roger was recently shared by The Loving Each Day website. It prompted me to share these thoughts about service with you. First, however, the question and answer:

Q: “How can I experience the Christ in my everyday life?”

John-Roger: “The answer is very simple: serve, serve, serve. I should say, serving, serving, serving. To serve means getting up and going and doing what’s in front of you to do. I think we find the Christ more readily in that serving than we do in anything else. In the Bible, Christ says, ‘How do you know that ye are my disciples? That you do love one another’. How do we know that you do love one another? Because you help each other, you work with each other, and you support each other. And you just don’t judge each other.”

I think that the opportunity to do service is indeed a joy and great privilege—not to ever be taken for granted. There is such a fragile, sweet connection that happens between the givers and the receivers of service. Reaching out to share requires us to open in vulnerability and trust; while accepting and receiving what is being offered creates a space of deep vulnerability as well. In this oneness of giving and receiving, a blessed and transformative experience occurs for both.

Mother Teresa shared personally with John-Roger the five special words that drove her service: “You Did This To Me.” Another five words have inspired and driven my particular service: “We Are Our Brother’s Keeper”. And to me, EVERYONE is our brother, and anything we can do to lift the load from his heart, lighten the heaviness of his burdens, or simply walk alongside of him in loving support and encouragement, is service of the very highest. This is and has been our goal in the work of Heartfelt.

Heartfelt service was birthed after an Insight Service Training in 1979. I and others were deeply moved by the power of doing community service with a group of like-minded hearts. Afterwards, small groups of us began going out to feed the homeless, visit the sick and aged, bring cheer to the homebound, create parties to uplift orphaned or deprived children, paint and repair homes, and assist wherever we found the need.

One day when our little Insight office was overwhelmed with phone calls for help and lines for food outside the door—and my job seriously at risk!—I called John-Roger for guidance. He said to me “Patti, if they come to us…we help them.” And Heartfelt’s direction was clear from that day on. But I think God additionally charges His children to go out and find those most fragile and in need of assistance – and not wait for them to come to us.

Heartfelt service has extended to those least-advantaged, helping those that come to us and those we find, as well as encouraging individuals and groups to serve and assist their planetary family however they are able. There are so many opportunities right now, right where you are, to serve: there are the poor and homeless in shelters or soup kitchens; the sick and dying in hospitals and hospices; the forgotten in nursing homes; and perhaps your own relatives and friends in crisis or need. In the Church of MSIA there is the HeartReach Program, which is church members caring for and supporting church members during their times of crisis. We pray for one another and hold Light in person. We do blessings. We send Light from a distance. We sit at the bedsides of those in transition from this earth. We do whatever is needed to lift our spiritual family member’s burdens with the power of our loving.

Please teach your children to do service. If a young child is able to experience the powerful difference their very presence makes in the life of someone less fortunate, chances are they will continue to include service in their daily lives. You can make doing service a fun and simple family experience, and yet memorable for your children.

Throughout the years I’ve learned that people are not healed and changed by the “stuff ” you give to them…even life-sustaining things like food or medicine. Those are simply tools, vehicles to get your foot in the door and share your loving heart! People are healed and their lives changed forever by the LOVING, the CARE, the TIME, the ENERGY, the heart-connections you give and share. That’s what plants the seeds of life transformation inside of them! That is why you go.

So in your service outreach, don’t be concerned if you have no money or things to give to someone in need—you have YOU and your loving heart, and that’s the greatest gift you could ever give to anyone.

Often people tell me that they don’t know where to begin to serve, or they’re afraid they’ll be overwhelmed by the great need that exists everywhere. And yes, there is a great need—everywhere! But I encourage you to just take one small, manageable step, and God will do the rest. And as you break through any limitations or barriers you may have to reaching out and extending in service, you find that there is absolutely NO separation between you and another human Soul! None. And in that realization you discover that it has only just been:

GOD SERVING GOD…SOMETIMES DISGUISED AS BROTHERS!

God blesses us all.
Patti Rayner
The Heartfelt Foundation.




Click on the titles below to read the full story:

An Update on Heartfelt's New Orleans Back to School Service Project

A Joyful Sharing from a Heartfelt Mexico Service Project

Heartfelt Celebrates 30 Years of Heartfelt Service

The Spirit of Christ-mass Present

Heartfelt Christmas Projects in Mexico City, Mexico and Itatiba, Brazil

A Real Heartfelt Belly Laugh at the Heartfelt Foundation’s Fundraiser at the Comedy Store

Heartfelt's Thanksgiving Projects, 2007

A Successful Heartfelt New Orleans Back to School Service Project

A Soldier's Thank You

Heartfelt's Christmas Service Projects, 2007

News from Heartfelt in Mexico City

A Message from Patti Rayner of the Heartfelt Foundation

Heartfelt Foundation Receives Service Award

Gratitude and Celebration, June 2003