"I don't know what your destiny will be,
but one thing I do know:
the only ones among you who
will be really happy are those who have
sought and found how to serve."
--Albert Schweitzer
but one thing I do know:
the only ones among you who
will be really happy are those who have
sought and found how to serve."
--Albert Schweitzer
Saturday morning me, Randy and the kids walked down the street to help with a ward service project. We helped with the yard of a very old widow who has lived in her house for like 60 years. It was so cool to see so many families come together to care for her yard. We pulled weeds, cleared out debris, pruned roses, mowed the lawn, weed whacked, trimmed branches, and some of the men fixed the side of her house. There were lots of kids there and they all started out helping, but ended up catching lots of tiny snakes which were abundant in her yard (I wasn't freaked out, apparently I can handle little snakes but not spiders).
I couldn't help but feel so thankful that we were there. That we had chosen to get up early on a Saturday to go help someone else. Of course, I had been dreading doing this and was fighting with myself as I tried to get out of going, but once again I just said to myself "consider the source" and then I was fine. Every time I don't give in to that adversarial voice in my head I feel powerful and happy. I tend to think of myself as someone without much self-discipline, but each time I overcome that voice and do something I know is "right" or that I'll regret not doing later I feel so pleased.
Anyway, it turns out that so many people showed up to the 4 different service-project houses that everyone was done in 2 hours instead of the 4 hours originally planned. When we finished at the house we were working on we came home and got a garbage bag and then walked up our street picking up trash along the sides of the road. I don't know if people throw stuff out their car windows or if it's all stuff that has blown out of trash cans or the garbage truck, but it's kind of amazing how much there was. It didn't take us very long and we filled a whole bag. Gross. (We wore gloves.)
I couldn't help but feel so thankful that we were there. That we had chosen to get up early on a Saturday to go help someone else. Of course, I had been dreading doing this and was fighting with myself as I tried to get out of going, but once again I just said to myself "consider the source" and then I was fine. Every time I don't give in to that adversarial voice in my head I feel powerful and happy. I tend to think of myself as someone without much self-discipline, but each time I overcome that voice and do something I know is "right" or that I'll regret not doing later I feel so pleased.
Anyway, it turns out that so many people showed up to the 4 different service-project houses that everyone was done in 2 hours instead of the 4 hours originally planned. When we finished at the house we were working on we came home and got a garbage bag and then walked up our street picking up trash along the sides of the road. I don't know if people throw stuff out their car windows or if it's all stuff that has blown out of trash cans or the garbage truck, but it's kind of amazing how much there was. It didn't take us very long and we filled a whole bag. Gross. (We wore gloves.)
**What do you think about service and
how often do you actively try to serve?**
P.S. Claudia updated her blog--woohoo. Happy Birthday Claudia!
****Also don't forget to RSVP for the blog party in
my previous post if you didn't check in yesterday.****
how often do you actively try to serve?**
P.S. Claudia updated her blog--woohoo. Happy Birthday Claudia!
****Also don't forget to RSVP for the blog party in
my previous post if you didn't check in yesterday.****
10 comments:
I love the idea of service, but I almost never actively serve. It's silly. My mind is always coming up with things that I want to do, things I could do, and things I should do and then I let shyness or insecurity get the better of me. I wish our ward would have more service projects like that. I always enjoyed them when we had youth service projects. They're always so much fun, and you leave with a real lift in your mood.
I hardly ever do anything either, and I am ashamed of it. I am trying to get the spirit of serving- I really want to change that part of my personality. It's just so easy to give in to that 'adversarial voice' and be selfish and lazy sometimes. I am trying to improve!
you have given me encouragement to be excited about our stake clean up project next Saturday! our ward is meeting together at the park to week and clean, then as a stake we bring all our trash bags to the stake center and see how much we did. I have a lot of things this week, so I was bitter about wiping out my Saturday but now I feel better and am sure it will be good for my kids!
i have so many strong feelings about service i don't know where to begin.
our stake theme this year is about serving from heart not just making the casserole dinner. I have had an incredible Visting teacher who taught me how to serve she was the best i ever had. she knew what was going on with me and my life all the time. she was always there for me, i would never hesitate to call her and she never once sat down on my couch and gave me a lesson the traditional way. she knew i would be best served by sending it in the mail or taking me out to lunch, watching my kids, doing my laundry the list goes on and on. i am a better vt because of it. i serve differently now.
i don't do it to fit my schedule or do what i think i am supposed to do.
where i really learned service was being the YW president when for 2 years in which time i had two babies. i didn't have a house big enough to hold all the blessing that i received from my service.
i love service but i have learned to listen to my heart.
I try to do volunteer work like once a month, but since starting to work, I have let that fade a bit. Thanks for this post, I am going to look for things I can do during the day with or without Mya. She will be old enough this summer to start to understand what is going on a little better. I really like that picture as well :)
At our Saturday evening Stake Conference session yesterday, one of the speakers, when referring to the Adversary, said, "Oh, he's such a creep!" Amen to that.
When I'm having a difficult time loving someone--in or outside of my family--I look for ways to serve him or her. It's hard to serve someone and not increase your love for them.
I think service is awesome. A great way to loose yourself and focus on someone else. I am positive I don't do it as often as I should.
It always feel so great when I do.
How cool that your family had that great experience. I don't know if I've done much service since leaving the YW presidency. I try to look for opportunities, but I'm not as successful yet as I want to be. I want to be the kind of visiting teacher that Kristi talked about. As you know from my post on kindness, I struggle with figuring out what kind of service is really needed, not what kind is convenient for me. Maybe my new calling will help me with this... :(
I love the feeling of service. I am glad we are in a church that promotes it so much. I love giving service but do battle with the thought of doing it before hand. Which is kind of silly since I love helping out.
I have always enjoyed that times that I have been involved in service, both on a ward level and an individual level. Since not being in a RS, YW or Primary Pres. the last 3 months, I haven't done much service on a large scale. But, I was just called to be 1st councelor in the stake primary pres. so I'm sure many opportunities will come my way. As a girl growing up in Cali, our welfare service was picking grapes, we had to be there at 5:30am, so we left the house at 4:30 am and traveled and hour. It was dirty, hot and physically demanding as you crawled under the vines to pick all the grapes, not to mention spiders and snakes, but what a rewarding day! It was a good dirty, if there is such a thing.
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