by Jamie Melin, special to Mormonchic.com
The word “Service” seems to have a unique connotation within the church. We know that serving one another, serving the Lord, serving our neighbors, etc., are all parts of leading a Christ like life and keeping our baptismal covenants. Yet somehow, service gets isolated and scheduled and separated from our daily living and thinking, as in “Service Project.” Often it’s something we think we do next Saturday with the youth, or twice a year in Relief Society, or when called upon as visiting teachers.
Service, however, is a constant element of living the gospel. We do things every day that qualify as service, and yet we overlook them, or see them as obligations and duties. Perhaps the best example of this is our work as mothers and wives. Yes, we have duties, but they are more than that if we approach them with the right attitude. The most effective way to make this happen is through prayer, especially morning prayer.
If we remember to do one thing, it should be to kneel and ask for help throughout the day to come. Pray for patience with our little ones; pray to see them and their needs the way our Heavenly Father sees them. Ask for understanding and ability to meet those needs. This prayer works for all of us—whether we are home with children, working, going to school—whatever our situation. Each day, we encounter individuals we can serve. We must not underestimate the power of our interactions, and the power of approaching them with the right attitude. When we do this, we make service part of daily living instead of a date on the calendar.
Why do we seek out opportunities to serve in the first place? In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin gave what may possibly be the best explanation of our debt to God and how our service, combined with whole-hearted obedience, pays that debt (Mosiah 2: 17-22). If we can keep our hearts and minds focused on paying that debt the best we can, opportunities to serve will spring up all around us and we can be ready for them. We can remember that when we serve each other, we are only serving God.
This lesson was impressed upon me early in my mission. I had arrived in North Carolina at the end of October, which meant autumn was in full swing. The weather was wonderful for tracting, so my trainer made sure I had lots of experience finding people to teach by knocking on their doors. We met a tiny elderly woman one day who let us into her home to “talk about Jesus.” In the course of conversation, we learned that a drunk driver had killed her husband and son several years ago. Her second son had taken good care of her and helped keep her home and yard un good condition, but he had moved away and she was doing the best she could on her own. She expressed her faith in God and Christ and listened to our presentation of the Book of Mormon. She agreed to keep the book and read what she could, and we left her with a prayer.
On the way home that afternoon, my companion and I got the same impression—we should do something to help our new friend with her yard. Since it was November, we decided to get up extra early on our preparation day and rake up the leaves in her yard. We would work fast and get out of there before she got up and she would be totally surprised. We put our plan in motion, borrowing two rakes, two pairs of work gloves, and a box of trash bags. We arrived shortly after 6:00am on “P-Day” to rake the yard.
After two and a half hours, we still had lots of leaves to rake and we began to worry about being “caught.” I was working in the side yard among some flowerbeds and I thought to myself, “I can just leave these leaves here—no one can see them from the front of the house and we’ve got to hurry.” But then, Mosiah 2:17 flashed through my mind—“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God.” I reasoned with myself that if this were indeed Heavenly Father’s yard, I would rake up every last leaf to give him my very best. So if by serving his daughter I am serving him, she deserved my very best, too. I raked out the flowerbeds and made sure it was a job fit for a queen and her King.
Meanwhile, we did get caught. The little lady appeared on her porch in her housecoat around 9:00am and she was crying. She tried to pay us, but my companion told her, “We did this because we love you and God loves you—not for money.” She hugged us and told us where to stash the bags of leaves for pick up, then told us to wait a minute. She later emerged from the house carrying two crocheted dolls—one for each of us. Again, we protested, but she retorted, “I’m not giving you these because you raked my yard; I’m giving them to you because I love you.”
That special morning early in my mission taught me a lesson that changed my service for the better. And not just my missionary service, but every calling and act of kindness that I have tried to perform since. The people we serve everyday deserve our very best, just as we would give our very best for our Heavenly Father. By looking for daily opportunities, service can become a lifestyle, not just a project. As we strive to see with God’s eyes and act on his will, we become instruments in his hands to make good things happen all around us.
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Scriptures on Service
Matthew 22:35-40
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 25:41-46
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye ccursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Galatians 5:13-14
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt blove thy neighbour as thyself.
Mosiah 2:17
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
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