A ladle and a spoon are both perfectly good utensils. They are just designed for different purposes.
The spoon is a single sized utensil that allows you to efficiently and effectively serve yourself. The ladle is a larger tool that is better served being used to put larger helpings on others plates. It’s designed for serving others.
Yes you can serve others with a spoon, but it’s not efficient. Yes, you can serve yourself with the ladle, but that’s not it’s purpose.
The challenge, I see, is that most people are walking around life with only a spoon. We only seek to serve ourselves. We see the world through the lens of “looking out for number one.” It causes us to be myopic and selfish. There are certainly times when we need to serve ourselves, but it’s not a rewarding long term way to go through life.
Instead, today I encourage you to at least take the ladle with you. Be on the look out for reasons and opportunities to provide others value. Look for reasons to share and serve. It might be as simple as doing your job in a generous way…or it might be paying for someone’s lunch. Whatever. Just look for a way to set down your spoon for a bit today…and serve.
How can we serve you?
I wrote this a few years ago…and I want to add this caveat today. Both the spoon and the ladle are important. It’s important to serve. But it IS important to take care of yourself too. The challenge, as I see it, is that we usually carry only one. We either are selfish and only carry the spoon. Or we focus solely on the ladle…and we can become burned out and jaded. Make sure to carry both utensils in your backpack today.
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