This blogpost features some resources, an analogy, and a personal story to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for July 21-27, which includes Doctrine and Covenants 81-83. Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.
CHRISTLIKE SERVICE
This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart, because I've been blessed many times over by people selflessly giving Christlike service to our family. I've gathered some of my favorite talks, quotes, and shared a personal story that you may find helpful if you are preparing a lesson or talk on the topic of service. These resources are based on the two sections in the Come, Follow Me manual this week, entitled: "The Savior has given me much and requires much of me," and "thou wilt do the greatest good unto thy fellow beings."
THE BEATING HEART - LOVE/SERVICE ANALOGY
One function of the heart is to beat oxygen rich blood to the entire
body, but another, equally important function, is to receive blood so it
can be oxygenated again. The heart only works when it is giving and
receiving blood effectively.
Service is much the same way. We all would like to live in a state where we are endlessly giving selfless acts of service to others, but that's not how our lives generally go. Sometimes we need, literally need like our bodies need oxygen, to be open to receiving service from others.
Being on the receiving end of service can be humbling, but it should absolutely not be viewed as weakness. Just as our hearts can't function without receiving blood to be re-oxygenated, we go through seasons of life, when we need to allow others to share their oxygen with us. Being on the receiving end of service, has made
me appreciate the small and simple efforts all the more. I am one who often gets caught up in wanting my service to be big or "pretty", and I sometimes let that desire for perfection hold me back. Now I realize that it’s better to reach out and do something...anything...no matter
how small and imperfect my efforts might be, because a heart that's starving for oxygen (or a person who's in the middle of a heartbreaking trial) just needs something/anything to know that they are loved and not forgotten.
As any of you longtime followers knows, when our oldest son was in the hospital with an aggressive form of leukemia, we had the blessing of being on the receiving end of many hours of loving service. People brought us meals, mowed our lawn, gave our kids rides, etc. Those were all beautiful, unglamorous acts of service that very much lit up our world and made it so we could keep our heads above water in what was otherwise a very upside down and difficult time for our family.
He was 16 when he was diagnosed and his cancer was aggressive enough that he lived full-time in the hospital for months on end. This meant no school, no seminary, no sports...just long days and nights in the hospital where he was often stir-crazy, miserable with the side effects of his treatments, and mostly just deeply deeply lonely.
But there was one bright spot in his weeks… Every Sunday his entire priest's quorum jumped into cars for the third hour of church, drove the 10-miles to the hospital, brought us the sacrament, and had the priest’s quorum lesson with him in his hospital room. They did this week after week, for months on end….adding extra time onto their busy Sundays. They were a light not only to us, but to the doctors and nurses who were amazed at these well-dressed teens that showed up every Sunday to give Spencer a small moment of almost normalcy each week. We never would have asked for anyone to make that sacrifice for us, but that’s a huge part of what made it all the more meaningful. Those Young Men and their leaders recognized that what Spence needed more than signed cards wishing him to get well soon, was light, friendship,and, more than anything else, the feeling that he still belonged somewhere.
I think often at what a powerful lesson those young men leaders taught those boys. Instead of just hearing about Christ’s example and about how good it is to serve, they lived it. They sacrificed their time and ministered to the one. Sometimes we get these grand notions of trying to change the world, but I’m here to say that there is no “world” as a single entity--there are only 6 billion individuals in the world having individual experiences. And those young men absolutely changed Spencer’s world and ours. Our testimonies were strengthened because of their love and service.
That’s what service is all about….it’s about LOVE and action for the one! Jesus didn’t wait around to serve only those he deemed worthy. He didn’t seek to do it in front of an audience. Or wait until it was more convenient for Him. He took what he had--sometimes just some spit and some mud--and he loved. He listened. He healed. He got messy. And in those boys' cases (one of whom is now our son-in-law), they added on time to their already long Sundays to show a peer that he wasn't forgotten!
SCRIPTURES TO READ:
"And in doing these things thou wilt do the greatest good unto thy fellow beings, and wilt promote the glory of him who is your Lord. Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." Doctrine and Covenants 81:4-5
"For of him unto whom much is given much is required;" Doctrine and Covenants 82:3
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40
“Love thy neighbor as thyself”. Matthew 22:37-39
QUOTES:
“To help us better love one another, I would like to suggest four words to remember: “First observe, then serve.” Linda Burton
“Christ did not just speak about love; He showed it each day of His life. He did not remove Himself from the crowd. Being amidst the people, Jesus reached out to the one. He rescued the lost. He didn’t just teach a class about reaching out in love and then delegate the actual work to others. He not only taught but also showed us how to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” Elder Uchtdorf
“. . . Having charity and caring for one another is not simply a good idea. It is not simply one more item in a seemingly infinite list of things we ought to consider doing. It is at the core of the gospel—an indispensable, essential, foundational element.” Elder Uchtdorf
TALKS TO STUDY
"First Observe, Then Serve" by Linda K. Burton (one of my favorite talks ever on service)
"You Are My Hands" by Elder Uchtdorf
ORIGINAL CFM PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEET
THIS WEEK'S ACTIVITY SHEET LINK (in case it's not showing below)
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Enjoy learning the Gospel together!
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