Love & Service

Love and service.
These are, I sense, one and the same.
Love, without service, is illusory.
Service, without love, is cold.

True service always works both ways.
I cannot give service without receiving it.
I cannot receive service without giving it.

Love and service are a circuit that connects two or more people.
The love and service flow between and among us,
and together we do what we could never do alone.
We are thus granted the gifts of belonging, of usefulness,
of fellowship, of common ground,
and in some blessed cases, of friendship.

And these same qualities pertain in my life with my wife,
my life with my son,
and my life with my daughter.

Love and service.
When I approach my relationships with these actions and attitudes,
I feel a newfound sense of serenity,
something I never knew in the throes of active food addiction.

Thanks be to our Fellowship
and its structured meeting format
and the solution we share to our shared disease.

— John-Eric

Did you enjoy this article? We would encourage our members to use this post, and others like it, at their meetings, or for private reflection. We also encourage you to share this post to other fellows to help the compulsive eater who still suffers. Please let us know if you have an idea for an article or an upcoming theme, or have any questions or suggestions. Email our editorial staff at [email protected].

The experience, strength, and hope expressed in this article, reflect the individual OA members and does not represent OA as a whole. Other OA groups and service bodies are welcome to reprint articles from Experience, Strength & Hope Newsletter without permission. When reprinting from other OA newsletters, be sure to credit the source.