Serving God

A copy of a talk I gave today in church:

When I was little girl, about 10 years old, my mother became very ill and was hospitalized.  I didn’t know it at the time, but she nearly died.  When she went to the hospital, I was left to care for my 3 brothers, ages 12, 7 and 6 and my sister age 2.  I’m sure I was not left alone very long, but it was long enough that I had already established a plan of how the care of my brothers and sisters would happen, how I would prepare meals and feed them all and how the house would be kept clean. 

The Relief Society arrived at some point.  My guess was that it truly was not more than 2 or 3 hours from when my mother had left.  I was doing the dishes when they arrived and they whisked in and began to take over my “household”. I became very angry (I had quite a temper back then) and yelled at them to “Get out!”  “I’m taking care of everyone just fine”, I told them.  “I don’t need your help.”  But being the sweet women they were and wanting anxiously to serve my mother, whom they loved dearly, they did not listen to me and continued to fix dinner, set the table, do the dishes, feed the little kids and get everyone ready for bed.  I stormed  to my room in a huff and did not come down when dinner was ready, or for any other reason.

The Relief Society sisters left that evening, when Donna McDaniel arrived.  Donna was not quite old enough for Relief Society, yet she already knew all there was to know about serving a ten year old high strung girl.  She was 16 and had been my babysitter and friend for years. She came into my room, where I unloaded all the injustices about these women coming in uninvited when I was doing just fine.  Donna let me finish, then asked what I thought needed to be done next.  We made a plan together and she stayed at our house for the next several days until my mother was home from the hospital.

Fast forward 25 years later, when I was a young mother of three little boys, ages 6, 4 and 1.  Troy and I had been put in charge of planning and carrying out a large stake youth conference. On the Sunday before the youth conference, we met a final time with the youth committee.  At the end of the meeting, one of the girls named Stacey Gardner (age 16) asked me if there was anything thing else she could do to help me.  I told her no, that I just needed to get my house clean before we left so that the babysitter would have a clean house.  About 2 days before the conference, Troy was out of town and  I was feeling completely overwhelmed with all the last minute tasks I needed to complete, along with taking care of the boys (not to mention that I was 4 months pregnant…) I remember praying and asking Heavenly Father to bless me to be able to accomplish everything and clean my house.  Later that day, there was a knock at the door.  I opened the door to find this girl Stacey and about 8 other youth.  “We are here to clean your house,” they said.  My tears flowed. They cleaned the house, mowed the yard and entertained 3 boys while I completed the final tasks for the youth conference. 

I often reflect on these two experiences and other experiences where I was served by someone.  I don’t fully understand why I was so against the Relief Society coming into my house at the age of 10. Maybe it was because they did not ask me what needed to be done, but just took over, assuming because I was ten I couldn’t do anything.  Sometimes I  wonder if that is how I serve, taking over what needs to be done without asking what really needs to be done.  Always, a meal is welcome, but does the person I am serving need time to talk?  Do they really need something else that I am not offering?

Jesus Christ taught in the New Testament that “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.”

How do we love the Lord with all our heart, souls and minds?  I loved the admonition at our Regional Conference last week, where the speaker said the “Primary” answers are always the answers, but they are so much more.  Pray, Attend Church, Read the Scriptures. We pray with “real intent” and “with all the energy of our hearts”.  We attend church to renew sacred and important covenants each week as we strive to become like our Heavenly Father.  We feast upon the words of Christ, which tell us all things that we should do.  

Another way we show our love to Heavenly Father is by service.  Let’s look at the story in the New Testament in John, chapter 21.  The Savior had just been resurrected.  He went to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where he saw Peter and some fisherman as they fished off the shore of Galilee. He called out to them and asked if they were having any success.  They said no, and He told them to cast their nets on the other side. They did and then drew in the nets, overflowing with fish.  Afterward, as they dined on the fish, The Savior said to Peter, “Son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” (Meaning all the fish they had just caught.)  “Lovest thou me more than these?” They were poor.  They could take the fish and sell them.. for money, do something with them. 

Peter said, “Thou knowest that I love thee.” And the Savior said to Peter, “Feed my lambs.”

Then the second time, the Savior said to Peter, “Lovest thou me?” and Peter then was grieved because the Savior had asked him the second time, and the Savior said, “Feed my sheep.”

Then the third time He asked him, “Lovest thou me?... Feed my sheep.”

Elder David B Haight asked:  “What are we doing [to feed His sheep]? How do we demonstrate to the Savior the love we have for Him?  Wouldn’t it be through our obedience and through our service and what we do with the time that we have?”  (Elder David B Haight, Love and Service, April, 1999).

And how do we serve God?  The scripture in Mosiah 2:17 gives exact instructions: “When ye are in the service of your fellow men, ye are only in the service of your God.”  We serve God by serving each other.  Loving each other.  Looking out for each others and understanding what needs to be done.  We build and support each other as we each face trials and difficult times in our lives. We look beyond our families and friends and ward members.  We look out to the world and ask “What can I do?” And we do it.

What are we doing to “Feed His Sheep?” There was a video on social media a few years ago.  I think it was called “Look up.”  It showed people walking, heads down, looking at their screens, their phones.  I loved the message “Look up”.  Look around you.  Smile at a stranger.  Speak to someone you don’t know.  Look up.  Look around.  Ask Heavenly Father to help you change your thoughts, feelings and actions so that they will reflect your love for Him and His son.

As a young girl, my father was mostly inactive. He had many other issues that we could not see at the time.  He did not attend my Merrie Miss Daddy Daughter nights.  He couldn’t escort me in the Junior Miss Pageant, when all the other girls had Daddy’s that did.  But there were amazing Christ-like people in my little branch who stepped up. One family friend became my father for the evening for the Daddy Daughter event.  Other men helped my brothers in their activities and sports.  My uncle Brent became a second father to me, always counseling me to have a smile on my face and a skip in my step.  Although my father’s inactivity was a huge burden to my mother and a trial to my family, we were blessed by the service of others.

How do we help others endure their trials and feel the love of Jesus Christ in their lives? Elder Eyring said in October 2012, We can make that “possible by being slow to judge those going through trials. Most people carrying heavy loads begin to doubt themselves and their own worth. We lighten their loads as we are patient with their weaknesses and celebrate whatever goodness we can see in them. The Lord does that. And we could follow His example—He the greatest nurturer of all.” (Elder Eyring, The Caregiver, October 2012)

I saw a post the other day that said “Getting rid of the negative people in your life is the first step to loving yourself.” If I had shut my father out of my life, how would I have ever grown in my own testimony of the Savior, the atonement and charity?  The real first step to loving your self is seeing yourself through the Saviors eyes and then seeing others through His eyes.

And when we see others through the eyes of the Savior, then we have reached charity.  Then we feel the Lords love surround us as we lift and bless our family members, friends, co-workers and strangers.

No wonder the first and greatest commandment to love God with all our hearts, minds and mights is immediately followed by the second.

“And the second is like unto it.  Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

President Uchtdorf said, “Those who wholeheartedly turn their lives over to the Savior and serve God and fellowman discover a richness and fullness to life that the selfish and egotistic will never experience.”  (Uchtdorf, Are You Sleeping Through the Restoration”, April 2014).

We are the people of God.  Our purpose in life is to learn to become like him.  What better way to learn that lesson, than by serving others with our heart, mind and strength?  As we   serve, our hearts are opened and changed and we learn how it is that God continues to love and serve us despite our weaknesses and shortcomings. We learn to love as God loves.

I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through him, we can change.  We can become perfected (finished) even as our Father in Heaven is.