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| Source Each of us can do something to help someone.... We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. |
My beloved brothers and sisters, I greet you this morning
with love in my heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for each of you. I am
grateful for the privilege to stand before you, and I pray that I might
effectively communicate to you that which I have felt prompted to say.
A few years ago I read an article written by Jack McConnell,
MD. He grew up in the hills of southwest Virginia in the United States as one
of seven children of a Methodist minister and a stay-at-home mother. Their
circumstances were very humble. He recounted that during his childhood, every
day as the family sat around the dinner table, his father would ask each one in
turn, “And what did you do for someone today?” 1 The children were determined
to do a good turn every day so they could report to their father that they had
helped someone. Dr. McConnell calls this exercise his father’s most valuable
legacy, for that expectation and those words inspired him and his siblings to
help others throughout their lives. As they grew and matured, their motivation
for providing service changed to an inner desire to help others.
Besides Dr. McConnell’s distinguished medical
career—where he directed the development of the tuberculosis tine test,
participated in the early development of the polio vaccine, supervised the
development of Tylenol, and was instrumental in developing the magnetic
resonance imaging procedure, or MRI—he created an organization he calls
Volunteers in Medicine, which gives retired medical personnel a chance to
volunteer at free clinics serving the working uninsured. Dr. McConnell said his
leisure time since he retired has “evaporated into 60-hour weeks of unpaid
work, but [his] energy level has increased and there is a satisfaction in [his]
life that wasn’t there before.” He made this statement: “In one of those
paradoxes of life, I have benefited more from Volunteers in Medicine than my
patients have.” 2 There are now over 70 such clinics across the United States.
Of course, we can’t all be Dr. McConnells, establishing
medical clinics to help the poor; however, the needs of others are ever
present, and each of us can do something to help someone.
The Apostle Paul admonished, “By love serve one another.”
3 Recall with me the familiar words of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon:
“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of
your God.” 4
The Savior taught His disciples, “For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same
shall save it.” 5
I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose
ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those
who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their
lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and
flourish—and in effect save their lives.
In the October 1963 general conference—the conference at
which I was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles—President
David O. McKay made this statement: “Man’s greatest happiness comes from losing
himself for the good of others.” 6
Often we live side by side but do not communicate heart
to heart. There are those within the sphere of our own influence who, with
outstretched hands, cry out, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” 7
I am confident it is the intention of each member of the
Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to “bear
one another’s burdens, that they may be light.” 8 How many times has your heart
been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you
intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living
interfered and you’ve left it for others to help, feeling that “oh, surely
someone will take care of that need.”
We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were
we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find
that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words,
too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not
really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more
important causes.
Many years ago I heard a poem which has stayed with me,
by which I have tried to guide my life. It’s one of my favorites:
I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody’s need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind. 9
My brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by those in
need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our
kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are
the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His
children. He is dependent upon each of us.
You may lament: I can barely make it through each day,
doing all that I need to do. How can I provide service for others? What can I
possibly do?
Just over a year ago, I was interviewed by the Church
News prior to my birthday. At the conclusion of the interview, the reporter
asked what I would consider the ideal gift that members worldwide could give to
me. I replied, “Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely, and
do something for him or her.” 10
I was overwhelmed when this year for my birthday I
received hundreds of cards and letters from members of the Church around the
world telling me how they had fulfilled that birthday wish. The acts of service
ranged from assembling humanitarian kits to doing yard work.
Dozens and dozens of Primaries challenged the children to
provide service, and then those acts of service were recorded and sent to me. I
must say that the methods for recording them were creative. Many came in the
form of pages put together into various shapes and sizes of books. Some
contained cards or pictures drawn or colored by the children. One very creative
Primary sent a large jar containing hundreds of what they called “warm
fuzzies,” each one representing an act of service performed during the year by
one of the children in the Primary. I can only imagine the happiness these
children experienced as they told of their service and then placed a “warm
fuzzy” in the jar.
I share with you just a few of the countless notes
contained in the many gifts I received. One small child wrote, “My grandpa had
a stroke, and I held his hand.” From an 8-year-old girl: “My sister and I
served my mom and family by organizing and cleaning the toy closet. It took us
a few hours and we had fun. The best part was that we surprised my mom and made
her happy because she didn’t even ask us to do it.” An 11-year-old girl wrote:
“There was a family in my ward that did not have a lot of money. They have
three little girls. The mom and dad had to go somewhere, so I offered to watch
the three girls. The dad was just about to hand me a $5 bill. I said, ‘I can’t
take [it].’ My service was that I watched the girls for free.” A Primary child
in Mongolia wrote that he had brought in water from the well so his mother
would not have to do so. From a 4-year-old boy, no doubt written by a Primary
teacher: “My dad is gone for army training for a few weeks. My special job is
to give my mom hugs and kisses.” Wrote a 9-year-old girl: “I picked
strawberries for my great-grandma. I felt good inside!” And another: “I played
with a lonely kid.”
From an 11-year-old boy: “I went to a lady’s house and
asked her questions and sang her a song. It felt good to visit her. She was
happy because she never gets visitors.” Reading this particular note reminded
me of words penned long ago by Elder Richard L. Evans of the Quorum of the
Twelve. Said he: “It is difficult for those who are young to understand the
loneliness that comes when life changes from a time of preparation and
performance to a time of putting things away. … To be so long the center of a
home, so much sought after, and then, almost suddenly to be on the sidelines
watching the procession pass by—this is living into loneliness. … We have to
live a long time to learn how empty a room can be that is filled only with
furniture. It takes someone … beyond mere hired service, beyond institutional
care or professional duty, to thaw out the memories of the past and keep them warmly
living in the present. … We cannot bring them back the morning hours of youth.
But we can help them live in the warm glow of a sunset made more beautiful by
our thoughtfulness … and unfeigned love.” 11
My birthday cards and notes came also from teenagers in
Young Men and Young Women classes who made blankets for hospitals, served in
food pantries, were baptized for the dead, and performed numerous other acts of
service.
Relief Societies, where help can always be found,
provided service above and beyond that which they would normally have given.
Priesthood groups did the same.
My brothers and sisters, my heart has seldom been as
touched and grateful as it was when Sister Monson and I literally spent hours
reading of these gifts. My heart is full now as I speak of the experience and
contemplate the lives which have been blessed as a result, for both the giver
and the receiver.
The words from the 25th chapter of Matthew come to mind:
“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
“Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
“Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
“When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked,
and clothed thee?
“Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto
thee?
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I
say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 12
My brothers and sisters, may we ask ourselves the
question which greeted Dr. Jack McConnell and his brothers and sisters each
evening at dinnertime: “What have I done for someone today?” May the words of a
familiar hymn penetrate our very souls and find lodgment in our hearts:
Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there? 13
That service to which all of us have been called is the
service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As He enlists us to His cause, He invites us to draw
close to Him. He speaks to you and to me:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek
and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 14
If we truly listen, we may hear that voice from far away
say to us, as it spoke to another, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
15 That each may qualify for this blessing from our Lord is my prayer, and I
offer it in His name, even Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen.
Notes:
2. Jack
McConnell, “And What Did You Do for Someone Today?” 13.
3. Galatians
5:13.
4. Mosiah 2:17.
5. Luke 9:24.
6. David O.
McKay, in Conference Report, Oct. 1963, 8.
7. Jeremiah 8:22.
8. Mosiah 18:8.
9. Anonymous,
quoted in Richard L. Evans, “The Quality of Kindness,” Improvement Era, May
1960, 340.
10. See Gerry
Avant, “Prophet’s Birthday,” Church News, Aug. 23, 2008, 4.
11. Richard L.
Evans, “Living into Loneliness,” Improvement Era, July 1948, 445.
12. Matthew
25:34–40.
13. “Have I Done
Any Good?” Hymns, no. 223.
14. Matthew
11:28–30.
15. Matthew
25:21.
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