First Observe, Then Serve

A few weeks ago, when I was putting my lunch bag in the office refrigerator, the administrative assistant on our floor called my attention to the boxes of soda she'd recently purchased. She pointed to a box of Diet Coke with Lime, saying that they were specifically for me. She had noticed that, when I bring a can of soda from home, it's always Diet Coke with Lime, and she acted upon what she'd seen. I felt good that someone had seen me—and not just seen but done something about it.

In October 2012, Linda K. Burton said:

To help us better love one another, I would like to suggest four words to remember: "First observe, then serve."

Whether it is something minor like a preference for Diet Coke with Lime or something big like disaster relief efforts, seeing people is the first step to loving them.

Christian Legal Aid of Los Angeles asserts the following:

God has created us to love, and love is the natural response when we take the time to truly see and know another person. If the first step toward loving our neighbor is seeing them, perhaps the first step toward seeing them is taking time to look. Maybe we can’t really see people as we drive by or rush through our to-do list. Perhaps love comes with time, and not just the other way around.

See people. Take time to look.

References
Burton, Linda K. "First Observe, Then Serve." Ensign, November 2012.
"Time to See." Christian Legal Aid of Los Angeles, February 23, 2015.