In our church, we try to give a lot of service. It may consist of taking in a meal, watching a child, cleaning someone's house, or helping someone move. We often pray for someone going through a hard time or add their name to the prayer roll at the temple so they can benefit from many people praying for them. In my service, I have an opportunity to teach regularly. I give my lesson twice-once to a group of women in the Pioneers Home, and also the group of women who meet in our church building. Most of the time, I give it first at church, then at the home. This week, it will be the other way around.
We serve for many reasons, but primarily in a effort to grow closer to and more like the Savior, Jesus Christ. Service helps us show our empathy and compassion for others. Our church just expects it.
There are always opportunities to serve. However, as I prepared my lesson, came to a realization that we have a service opportunity every time we attend church or school, and in many other settings. We have an opportunity to serve those who teach or speak to us. This does not necessarily require that we be physically fit. We simply must be engaged.
In the LDS church, two members of the congregation are usually assigned to provide the sermon or message to the congregation in any particular week. This assignment changes weekly, so over the course of time, almost every adult has the opportunity to preach to us. That being the case, as you might guess, some speakers are better than others. Some are wonderful. Some are terrified. Yet all have the opportunity to serve us in the message they prepare. The same is also true of our teachers. They are lay members of the congregation who do their best. However, even as they serve us, we can serve them.
Many of our leaders have spoken on the subject of our responsibility as listeners to support the speaker or the teacher. In a class, that means participating, sharing the insights that occur because of how the lesson applies to different situations that have occurred in our own lives. It means coming prepared to participate, not just to be entertained.
In the context of listening to a speaker, we rarely have to actively participate. However, we have an active responsibility to pray for the speaker and prepare our own minds to receive the message that has been prepared. If we do our part, even if the speaker was not one of the best, we still have a good experience and learn.
Before preparing for this lesson, I had never really considered how my prayers and active listening to a speaker might constitute service. However, I can now see that by listening actively and praying for them, I enable them to better deliver their message. The prayers might help them better deliver it to others, but will definitely help them better deliver it to me. So, if I do what I should, I allow the speaker to better serve me, which also allows me to serve that speaker.
It helps us to grow if we can offer a speaker or teacher respect, our prayers for their message, and our attention. Even if it is in a setting where we disagree with the message being delivered, we can still pray and serve them. Perhaps, if we pray that their message will be delivered clearly and clearly understood, rather than convincing the audience of the truth of the message, that clarity might do the opposite. In this climate of rhetoric, that might be a service to all who hear although the speaker would not necessarily enjoy that. However, I believe that all of our actions that tend to help others to understand truth and do good are important acts of service. If I am correct, and this post has caused you to think about how you might service through your thoughts and prayers, then even this post has performed an act of service.
I had an opportunity to teach a lesson based on Jeffrey R Holland's talk, Are We Not All Beggars? In our church, we have an opportunity to fast once each month and donate the proceeds to help those in need. There are other aspects of caring for those in need that I felt impressed to discuss during the lesson: helping those who have needs other than financial.
Everything we have is a result of blessings in our lives. We may be 'self-made,' but we were successful because of our talents, combined with hard work. Those talents are a gift from God. Elder Holland discusses how we are all indebted, particularly to God, and that we repay this by doing what we can.
As I look around at those I serve, I can see that there are many ways of being in need. Some are lonely. They need someone to care and visit with them. Some are suffering. A visit can often help them think of something beyond their pain. Some just need a little help packing. Others need help moving. Some might need a helping hand watching a child or transporting one. Sometimes, the little things are the ones that have the biggest impact.
In my position at church, I can see the very tangible needs of those whose financial resources do not cover their needs. We use our fast offerings as a way to supplement and help these. However, there are many more needs that cannot be met financially. These are the ones that require a sacrifice of time, talent, or mental energy. That is often harder than abstaining from two meals and donating what you would have spent.
The Savior cared for the needy. He addressed them directly and did what he could to alleviate their suffering. He didn't require them to be 'worthy' of his help. He did what was practical. I hope that we are doing the same. If we pray for opportunities to help, they will come. And the great thing about service is that we benefit at the same time as the one we serve. Is there someone you can lift today?
I see many articles, including research, about how serving others can help you feel better. I think there are many aspects to service that help accomplish that. There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon that expresses one aspect very well: ...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. (Mosiah 2:17). To me, this means that when I take an opportunity to serve others, I am also serving God.
It is a frequent teaching that God often uses us to accomplish his goals and to bless the lives of others. This is a two-way street. It means that we are serving God when we serve others, but also, we are serving God when we allow others to serve us.
Service is sort of an all-encompassing activity. It can be the little things you do in your family on a daily basis. It can be large, like joining the military or serving a mission for a church. It can be a life dedicated to service like a nun or minister. It can be a life dedicated to others such as a doctor, many parents, many teachers, and some in public service. It can be very visible or hidden behind the scenes.
Since there are so many opportunities for service, it can be overwhelming to decide what to do and where to serve. When you are unsure, start at home. Service among family members will tend to create a happier environment. Love is an active verb, and one way to express love is to serve those we love. When we do so, we tend to deepen that love.
Another place to look for service opportunities is where we spend time: at school, at work, at church, in community activities. When I was in an opera group, most of our service to others in the group consisted of bringing snacks. In another place, my service consisted of managing their weekly sing-along program. I served as a Girl Scout leader for longer than I was a Girl Scout myself when I was a child. I have served in a wide variety of capacities in my church.
Service helps us to put our own problems, challenges, and trials into perspective. At times, we will recognize how truly blessed our lives are. At others, we can see how much difference we make in the lives of others and that brings joy to our hearts. We had an excellent lesson in church yesterday about turning outward, rather than inward, during trials. Taking the opportunity to find a way to help and serve others when we are challenged helps us rise to meet those challenges.
One does not need to be in the mood to serve in order to be effective. One only needs to act. I have spent hours in service projects repeating that part of the scripture from Mosiah I quoted above over and over again for the duration of the project. I accomplished what needed to be done. At the same time, I managed to focus on another's needs and that helped me to feel better too. While service may not be a cure for clinical depression, it can certainly help us to feel better able to face our daily struggles. And a nice side benefit is that we usually truly come to love those we serve. And often, we grow through that service to become more of what we truly want to be.
On Sunday, I was sustained to a new responsibility at church: President of the Relief Society for the Copper Basin Ward. For those of you who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that means I have stewardship responsibility for all the adult women of my ward (
the local congregation). You can learn more about Relief Society on Mormon.org here.
One definition of steward is one who actively manages and directs affairs for another. In this, that other is the Lord. This is a very humbling responsibility. The women range in age from 18 to 98, married, single, divorced, widowed, with kids, childless, life-long members of the church, recent converts. As you can see, there is significant diversity.
The good news is, I do not have to do this alone. I have two wonderful counselors to assist me, a secretary to coordinate administrative details, coordinators, teachers, and others to help us help the women (sister). Our motto is Charity never faileth. We define charity as the pure love of Christ. In short, I am tasked with helping these wonderful sisters come closer to Christ and each other.
I have never aspired to such a position. I know that it requires significant time to provide this service, and until recently, full time employment precluded my ability to offer that time. Now that I am (at least temporarily) retired, what better way to spend time than in the service of my sisters? A teaching from the Book of Mormon is that when you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are in the service of the Lord. Therefore, serving my sisters allows me to serve the Lord.
I started this off by saying that I was sustained. In our church, the local leader, the Bishop, prayerfully considers the needs of the ward and listens to prompting of the Holy Spirit on how to meet those needs. Over a period of time, he was told that I needed to fill this position. When he met with my husband and me to issue this calling, I immediately had a number of impressions come into my mind, one being that, while shocked, I was also prepared.
Sunday at the start of church, the Bishop released me from my previous responsibility in the nursery, which I have loved, and everyone raised their right hands to offer me thanks for the job that I had done. Then he called my name again, asking me to stand, along with my counselors and secretary. Everyone then voted, again by raising the right hand, to sustain me in my new office.
Sustaining is more than a ritual acknowledgement of the responsibility. It is also supposed to mean that you will do what you can to help that person be successful in their responsibility, whatever that might be.
So, for this past two weeks, I have been pondering what the Lord would have me do and a number of ideas have come in response. I am mostly excited about what this new opportunity will mean. As when I have accepted a new job, I am also nervous and want to do it 'right.' Luckily, there is no one way to do it right, so I think everything will work out. Another saying we have is whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. I trust that he will do that with me in this new calling.
One of my Facebook friends shared this article about a woman who waves at the high school students as they pass her window-and the huge surprise they gave her as a thank you. She didn't do anything major, just smiled and waved from her window as they passed by. Yet, she had a major impact on these young people. She had enough impact that they arranged to thank her for her thoughtfulness.
A video I saw a while back had a similar theme, about someone who did some little things which turned into big things. This young man assisted a disabled friend so that the friend could participate in a triathlon. It wasn't easy, but it made them both feel wonderful.
The story of the boy throwing starfish back into the sea gives us the same message. Doing little things can make a major difference in the life of an individual.There are hundreds of people all around us, just like the hundreds of starfish on the beach, and we can make a difference for the one, whether that one is in your family, among your friends, or a stranger you encounter.
The Boy Scout slogan is "Do a Good Turn Daily!" How different our world would be if we would each follow that slogan. The woman who waved did countless good turns with her wave and her smile. The young man that helped his disabled friend touched many lives. The boy throwing the starfish saved many lives. One of the things I love about Facebook is the many uplifting articles, pictures, and stories that my friends share. Many bring tears to my eyes as I see the goodness in the world around me. These friends who are sharing are touching my life and helping me see the good.
My step-daughter gave me a cute booklet about manners in the 19th century for Christmas. It is amazing how important it was to be thoughtful of others. It is sad how often we ignore that old-fashioned attitude. If we were to adopt it again, how much more smoothly our lives would go. Thoughtfulness acts as a lubricant to decrease the friction in relationships, intimate and casual.
So many people have an attitude that everything around them should be structured for their own convenience. We pick the wrong line-it goes too slowly. We pick the wrong cashier-he is too slow. We are so focused on ourselves we forget to be nice or polite or respectful of those who are waiting on us, helping us, or simply standing in line with us. We know of many who speak loudly on their cell phones so that others are required to listen to their conversations. Their convenience is more important than our peace of mind. We see parents trying to teach their children how to behave in public and make nasty comments when the child is simply behaving as any child/toddler of that age would, forgetting that that was once us-maybe very long ago.
There is a hymn that asks us if we have "cheered up the sad, made someone feel glad" and that is a great question to ask each day. Have we done any good? We should make an effort to do something good daily. That service will make us feel better. Even if that service is simply smiling and waving. Share your smile today :)
A great activity for the 24 days leading up to Christmas which will allow you to help focus on a giving spirit. Take a couple of pieces of yellow construction paper. Cut into strips just long and wide enough to contain a short sentence. Create a 'haystack' next to where you will be setting up your creche (if you have one). If you have a larger set, you will be creating hay for the baby Jesus to lie on. If not, you will be creating hay to cover the ground in the stable and surrounding areas.Each time a family member performs some act of service, write it on a piece of hay and place it in the manger or creche. By Christmas Eve, you should have moved all the hay into the manger or creche, creating a nice soft place for Jesus to be born. Christmas morning, read all the acts of service in the hay-these are your family's gifts to Jesus for Christmas.If your family enjoys this, you may want to save the haystacks to review again, perhaps next Thanksgiving, as blessings your family has shared. This will also help you get in the right frame of mind for the service for next Christmas.
