How To Save Your Life

My sister-in-law shared this video recently and it gnawed at my insides. Do you know what I mean? When you see or read or hear something that in your gut you know was meant for you--because you recognize something in yourself that shouldn't be there--something that needs to change. But it will require  work. And doing things that make you uncomfortable. And giving up your time, as busy as you already are.

Well, that was me while I watched this video. And I've noticed that when God is trying to send me a message, it is usually one that begins to reoccur often. I don't know if He has been sending those messages my way repeatedly for the past 30 years and I am just now seeing them, or if He is watching me and says to Himself "You're ready for this now Elin. Here it is."

So first it was this video. Then it was a conversation with a friend. Then a couple of opportunities to serve presented themselves--opportunities that were difficult and inconvenient. Then I got to know a woman who gives all of her time and life and self to take care of her handicapped daughter.

Then my mom shared this article with me.

It wasn't a wake-up call. It was an avalanche. But the message for me is crystal clear: Try to take every opportunity  to help and serve that is placed in your path. Stop rationalizing. Stop making excuses. Opportunities to serve are opportunities to grow and be lifted above and beyond your own capacities. God doesn't need us to serve each other. He is perfectly capable of taking care of every one of us. He is the one who knows of every sparrow that falls and "clothes the lilies of the field." He allows us to serve each other because of what it does for us. Letting us take care of each other is, I suppose, often how He takes care of us.

 "24 ¶^aThen said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him ^bdeny himself, and take up his^ccross, and ^dfollow ^eme.

 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will ^alose his life for my sake shall ^bfind it." Matthew 16:24-25

I want to be like these people who so selflessly and wondrously give of themselves--and seem so much fuller and more whole because of it. Jesus Christ exemplified this perfectly. So I'm working on letting go of the things that don't really matter and trusting that His way is the only one that really does matter.

-elin
Who is feeling the Autumn in the air! And who has 2 more lengthy article for you to read on the above topic if you aren't all tuckered out yet: this and this

Prayer, Scriptures, and Service

Last night I saw a quote from a talk given by President Henry B. Eyring, a prophet and apostle who is in the First Presidency of the Church. The quote was striking to me because it is something that I have been thinking about lately in regards to my own actions:

We can and must go often and carefully to the word of God. If we become casual in our study of the scriptures, we will become casual in our prayers.

We may not cease to pray, but our prayers will become more repetitive, more mechanical, lacking real intent. Our hearts cannot be drawn out to a God we do not know, and the scriptures and the words of living prophets help us know Him. As we know Him better, we love Him more.

At times I feel like my prayers don't make it past the ceiling of my apartment, like they just bounce back to me. I've wondered why that is, and I think a lot of it has to do with the above quote. And there are other times when I feel like my prayers are not "lacking real intent" but still don't seem effective. What then? Another quote from the same talk:

We must also serve Him to love Him. Joseph Smith did that, finally surrendering life itself in His service. Joseph prayed with the intent to obey. That obedience always includes service to others. Service in God’s work allows us to feel a part of what He feels and come to know Him.

“For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” As our love for Him increases, so will our desire to approach the Father in prayer.

Serving Him can be done in a variety of ways, but a succinct explanation is simply obeying His commandments. So when I find that my prayers are stuck in the same room as me, I know where to look for a solution to that problem: scripture study and service. And this time of year is great for both, as the holidays are here and thoughts are turned more to Christ.

 

Forrest

--Who is so thankful that Thanksgiving is nearly here!

 

 

 

Loaves and Fishes - When our efforts are somehow multiplied and magnified

Feeding the Five Thousand, by James Tissot

I recently watched this beautiful depiction of the miracle of the loaves and fishes and found a very personal lesson there for me. 

I—like many people, I suspect—often feel inadequate, that I don’t have much to offer. But as I watched this video and reread the parallel accounts in the New Testament of the Savior feeding the multitudes (see Matthew 14:15-20, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:5-14), I was reminded yet again of His ability to transform our “little” into “enough and to spare.”

In Matthew 14:15-20, we read:

15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

18 He said, Bring them hither to me.

19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

Like the multitudes surrounding the Savior, there are people all around us who are hungry—emotionally, spiritually, physically. Aware of our personal inadequacies, we may be tempted to step back, to “send (them) away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals” (vs. 15). However, one of the important lessons of these verses is that we should bring our “five loaves and two fishes”—our meager “baskets” of time, talents, temporal means, and most of all, our willingness--to the Savior and allow Him to bless them (vs. 19). As we do, and then go forward to serve in faith, these imperfect offerings are magnified into nourishing gifts of love that help others “eat” and be “filled” (vs. 20).

I love the tender way that Elder James E. Faust teaches this principle in this talk from the April 1994 General Conference.

-Marilyn

Who loves baking—and eating--bread.

Ye Have Done it Unto Me

Yesterday I received an email with instructions for serving in the peanut butter cannery in our area. The Church operates the factory to provide peanut butter for low-income families and as emergency food for times of, well, emergency (an example: I once listened to a talk regarding the response to the Teton Dam flood in eastern Idaho back in the 70s. The speaker mentioned that one of the emergency foods supplied came from the Houston peanut butter factory). Initially my name was put down as a "back-up" in case someone else couldn't make it. When I got the email indicating that my service was wanted, I admit to not being pleased about it. I don't even really like peanut butter.

While reading the New Testament last year, I took note of the Savior's methods of serving. Matthew basically starts with the Lord preaching the Sermon on the Mount, and then the rest of the book is dedicated to Him demonstrating how to live those things He preached, starting with chapter 8. I am listing some things I learned in chapter 8 about how Christ served, and therefore how I should serve (this isn't all inclusive).

He served without qualifiers or conditions. Man, woman, child, Jew or Gentile.
He served despite having other pressing duties.
He served without physically being present.
He served without being asked.
He served with the intent to teach proper principles.
His service was not limited to physical actions.
He served regardless of whether those receiving the service would receive Him or His message.

As a Christian, I am trying to emulate Christ. And one of the ways that I can do that is through devoted service to those around me. Including accepting the assignment to make peanut butter.

Forrest
--Who does like peanut butter in puppy chow (or muddy buddies, to some)

P.S. Anybody can volunteer at the peanut butter cannery, including companies and organizations. Details here.