Receiving

When we think of service we often think of things we can do for someone.  Whether it be something big like giving up a weekend night to babysit while a couple from your ward goes to the temple or something as simple as seeing someone come into class late and you motion for them to sit by you.  Both these and the countless other ways you all serve are simple ways that the Lord has prompted you to do His will.

We read in the New Testament in John 13: 12-14 the following:

12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

He is our perfect example, our exemplar.  We learn of him and how he served but do we often think of those he served?  I think I would feel like Peter did, initially refusing such an act.  Feeling like I was not worthy of the act and that I should be doing it for Him.  Sometimes we get a little too independent and forget that the other side of service is often more powerful than that of  the giving side.  In versus 5-8 we read:

5 After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

    

We are to serve but we are also expected to accept service from others.  During my early years of motherhood I was often left alone with my babies.  My husband was working and going to school full time then serving in capacities in the church that often left me alone with my little ones on the pews.  I was proud and stubborn and insistent that I could do it by myself.  Accepting help would be a sign of weakness, a trait that I went to great measures to hide.  A few years passed and a couple more babies came and with these changes also came a change in the dynamic of my home.  The reasons I would be sitting alone with my small children on the pews were now different, and much more difficult than I ever could have imagined.  I needed to make a choice.  Would I allow Satan to come in and exacerbate my feelings of loneliness?  Or would I let those loving, wonderful ward members who were so willing to step in and help at a moments notice into my life?

Those ward members are now amongst my best friends, counted as family even though my "real" family is just around the corner.  They are my angels, having worked as His hands.  When I think of my ward family this quote always comes to mind.   

...Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces. 

 By Gerard Manley Hopkins in "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" 

Through them, I now feel closer to Him and want to serve in the way He would have me.  That is my prayer for all of you, that you will know Him by serving His children and allowing others to serve you.  

-Sis. Carlile