“Everyone has a purpose in life and a unique talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.”

Kallam Anji Reddy

Our own unique gifts, plus service = ecstasy and exultation.

Reddy presents bliss as a mathematical equation. A recipe for fulfillment, for ecstasy and exultation. Your heart plus its connection to other hearts equals Everything. A whole greater than the sum of its parts.

The trick, I’m discovering, at least in my own life right now, is that this sometimes involves a uncomfortable amount of surrender, faith, and trust.

My preference of course is to focus on the half of the equation that I can control. I really like the part that invites me to share my passions courageously, the suggestion that if I express myself authentically, the world will gladly receive the gift that I am.

But while this is certainly an essential component of mine or anyone’s personal fulfillment, the other part of the recipe is service to others. And I can’t control (nor should I try to control) how others want to be served. So that’s a pickle. How to both be true to ourselves and also prioritize each others’ good? How to be healthy, authentic, confident individuals who are at the same time empathetic and relational? How to not take things personally while also caring deeply about what others think and feel?

Bob Dylan sang, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord…”

Service sounds great. I’m all for it, as long as it’s on my terms and on my schedule and fits with my plans. Is that devilish of me, my ego? Or is that my own individuated holy spirit? Darn it, the very idea of service, putting others first, makes those lines blurry.

One thing I’m pretty sure of is that service — which includes commitment, relationship, community, and belonging — doesn’t let us stay contained and controlling and small. What community tends to do, rather, is challenge all the limited ideas we might have of ourselves. And it seems like the greater our concept of service, the bigger the “us” we see ourselves to be a part of, the more likely we are to be shattered into a trillion radiant bits of togetherness.

In prayer and meditation and through the lessons of circumstance, I keep hearing a call to service, a call to surrender to something bigger than myself. Which ain’t easy for a control-freak like me. (And, duh, I can see that’s probably why I keep receiving the message). Over and over, it’s like Life is saying, “Have faith, plunge all-in, face-first and open-hearted, whether or not there appears to be any safety net…”

Okay, then.  The question then becomes:  to what am I being called, and who’s calling?  I think this is probably a worthwhile inquiry for all of us:  to what do we devote ourselves?  To whom or what are we in service?  The Devil, the Lord — or is that a tomato/tomato that depends on how you look at it, what we call It — or is it in the end a both/and Wholeness?

We’ve got to name it and we get to claim it. It’s always an opportunity to choose. Ultimately, we’re all in service to Life Itself, to something infinite, and we’re approaching it from our infinite angles.

I know how heavy and frustrating and yucky it feels when when I stick myself in a shadowy corner surrendering to things like people-pleasing, barely-getting-by, proving-myself, comparison, worry, outrage, separation, and regret. And I am reminded of how liberating it is to recognize that we can choose instead to serve Joy, Justice, Love, Beauty, Peace, Plenty, Laughter, and Fun.

When we recognize that we can surrender to Divine Ideas, and that these are divine ideas that we already are, then everything we do can become a part of the glory and majesty of it all. Our own majesty and magnificence is revealed.

More and more freely sharing ourselves in service, which in turn illuminates more and more of who we truly are, which then reinforces our experience of being a part of something greater. Back and forth, me and us, a widening gyre not of anarchy but of mutual determination.

Constantly generating the bigger something of which we’re a part. And then allowing that big something, at the same time, to create us, perpetually becoming us. A Whole greater than the sum of Its parts drawing us forth. Every individual — AND — the relationships between us — AND the luminous web of infinite kaleidoscopic connections — AND the unfathomable totality-plus that I call “God.”

Let’s serve that, together. Let’s serve that up, together. Let’s be that, together. And then some.

I can’t wait to see you this Sunday, February 15, 10:00am at q-Staff Theatre. With the incomparable Patty Stephens. Still around after for our annual community meeting. XO, Drew

©2026 Drew Groves