What if there was a World of Service?

There is a scripture that reads when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God.

So what does it mean to truly serve?

About a month and a half ago I was talking to a friend of mine about some things and he encouraged me to dive in and serve more. He encouraged me to focus more on others and other things and my perspective of life would change. We had also just listened to someone talk about service so I decided to take his challenge and jump in.

There are moments I struggle but the blessing of it definitely outweighs the struggle. As I have looked for serviceable moments it has reminded me of great parents who taught me a life of service. My mom is always cooking something for someone or visiting with a friend in need or buying the perfect gift for that friend who would just love it. My dad has always been one to see to others needs and is often seen being that good example to young men in the ward and neighborhood and sacrificing many hours of time on their behalf.

Yesterday provided a few different experiences that led to these thoughts. We were asked to come to the church and put bark around the trees and bushes. Not a lot of people came but I enjoyed talking with the people who did come. One thing that struck me was seeing parents bring their little children to the service project. Some of them had gloves and lil rakes and were so excited to be apart of the help. It made me grateful for parents teaching their children to develop a life of service. I was taught at a young age like them and will always be endebted for being taught this act. I thought how would this life be if everyone could grasp the concept of serving others.

After the service project I went home to make treats for the multistake dance. When I saw there was a post on facebook asking for anyone and everyone to donate food for the cause and they weren't even connected to the dance I could tell they were desperate. I had earned a few extra dollars on my paycheck for some mileage reimbursement. I should have put the extra towards my debt but instead decided to bake some variety of treats for the dance. However I was on the craziest time crunch ever and had to go to the crazy Wal Mart. I raced thru the store picked up my numerous items to bake and raced to the checkout. Just as I was pulling out my wallet it slipped out of my hands and everything in my wallet flew everywhere. I instantly thought you gotta be kidding me!I don't have time for this. As soon as the thoughts were there I looked down and saw a little boy maybe six or seven yrs old maybe even five already on the ground scrambling to pick up the contents of my wallet. It was the cutest and most touching thing in the moment. I thanked him and his parents who had a combined look of pride and astonishment towards their son. Again I thought what would this world be like if we were all a little more serviceable?


Later at the dance I asked if they needed help cleaning up afterwards and was told YES PLEASE!!!!! So I stayed. After the outskirt foyers were cleaned I noticed we had the big gym to clean still. This guy myself and another lady set off to tackle the task. At first I was in my own lil world working away but before long I looked up and saw a handful of people maybe ten to fifteen people sitting around laughing and joking among themselves and watching us work. We worked on that gym floor for an hour while our audience looked on. I thought of others working in other parts of the building trying to get things done and I thought of the two previous experiences that day and again thought what would the world be like if we were all a little more serviceable and was grateful that there are people in this world who do just jump in and serve. I am grateful for the friends and family who remind me of the importance of living my life in service.

One day if I am privledged to raise children of my own I hope to instill in them a desire and a longtime commitment to providing service. I hope they will show up to service projects with eagerness or jump down and eagerly help someone in need. I hope I can find someone who is willing to serve like my friend reminded me to do. There truly is no greater feeling then knowing you are following the example of Christ and living a committed life of service towards other. I hope I can continue to not only serve but always have a positive attitude about serving. I also hope when a service opportunity arises we can all have the thought: What would the world be like if we all jumped in and served? Then I hope we all jump in with willing hearts and hands and attitudes and make this crazy place a better place for all of us to live in!