Each of us has a sacred mission, a special service to perform on earth. The Indian poet Tagore says, "We spend our days and nights stringing and unstringing our instruments but the song we came here to sing remains unsung." At some point in our life we shall connect to our inner yearning and give expression to our song, our life purpose. Every event, circumstance, and relationship in our life has been a preparation and a readying for this mission. At the time of death, we shall realize that our life has been a perfect plot. ...
Take time for yourself -- be of service to your own being. Receive your own pain and suffering with mercy and gentleness. Honor and nurture your soul. This expands your ability serve others in an authentic way. ...
Act on the little things in life where you can be of help: offer a smile, a kind word, a patient ear, a helping hand, a donation. These small acts of service are essential parts of your sacred mission. They enable you to become, in Rumi's words, "a lamp, lifeboat, or ladder." Or, in Rabia's words, a slave of the Beloved.
— Jamal Rahman in Out of Darkness into Light by Jamal Rahman, Kathleen Schmitt Elias, Ann Holmes Redding