On Saturday my little brother Darren got married in Twin Falls. Richard & I observed something inspiring about the event. But first, some background. 
I have spent my whole life actively participating in my church. But I have only ever viewed the other members of the church as they related to me. Any service I provided was good for the recipient but mostly I thought about how good I was for doing it. I'm not sure how well I am making my point here so I'll cut to the chase.
My family wasn't involved a great deal in the planning of this wedding. I wasn't sure what to expect. But members of the church in Twin Falls, who Darren and Ashley hardly knew, rallied together to arrange a nice ceremony and reception. A woman who is Ashley's visiting teacher spent her Saturday setting up, serving, and cleaning up for someone she hasn't yet been able to get to know very well.
I have spent my whole life actively participating in my church. But I have only ever viewed the other members of the church as they related to me. Any service I provided was good for the recipient but mostly I thought about how good I was for doing it. I'm not sure how well I am making my point here so I'll cut to the chase. My family wasn't involved a great deal in the planning of this wedding. I wasn't sure what to expect. But members of the church in Twin Falls, who Darren and Ashley hardly knew, rallied together to arrange a nice ceremony and reception. A woman who is Ashley's visiting teacher spent her Saturday setting up, serving, and cleaning up for someone she hasn't yet been able to get to know very well. 
(We missed you Ev, prego picture of Lori is for you!) What really affected me was realizing how I fell on the other end of the service. Up to this point with regard to serving people I believed I was always the one providing the good works. But when I realized the sacrifice these strangers were making to help my brother I realized I've never really done anything so good. I've never done something so inconvenient for someone I hardly knew. There are surely people within my reach who have families praying for them daily and I am doing nothing to help.
My family has been blessed because of humble people willing to do the Lord's errand for completely selfless reasons.
None of this really came out the way I wanted it to so I will defer to a great talk recommended to me by my mother. It is called "Honest, Simple, Solid, True" by C. Terry Warner at BYU in 1996.
Here is a quote:
"We are members one of another, connected to each other, and especially to God, by spiritual sensitivities and obligations profoud as eternity. And just for that reason, we become most ourselves when we are most true to God and to one another. We become most right with ourselves when we are most right with them."
I am so grateful for good people everywhere whose quiet example inspires me to be better.
5 comments:
I have had moments like that, where something is suddenly so clear. Service is so multi faceted, isn't it? But don't cut yourself short - you are always doing for others. We never know how it is affecting them unless we have an experience like you did this weekend.
Thanks for sharing.
I can't believe he is old enough to be getting married! Congrats to them and your family. It is a pretty amazing thing to recieve such great service.
Somebody in our sacrament meeting today talked about the same thing. It inspired me to be more aware of opportunities to serve. Thanks Jo for reminding me!
If I could only be like Jo. You are so great at giving service that one day I'll be as good as you at giving service. This was such a great reminder of so many ways I could be better. You are so good at bringing out good points in life to focus on/ think about! Thanks for sharing!
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