What Does Service Mean to You?

 

This question has been floating around my noggin for about a week.  One of my first thoughts went to my mom and poppers.  They were always serving our neighbors, by taking meals, fixing plumbing, sharing fish, fixing electricity or just stopping by to check in on someone.

Mosiah 2:17 then came into my mind: “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”

Then 2 Nephi 2:3 came front to my mind:  Wherefore, thy soul shall be blessed…and thy days shall be spent in the service of your God.”

Then I found myself back in the Matthew 25: 34-40:  “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father…For I was an hungered 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 hungered and fed thee?  Or thirsty and gave thee drink?  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and come 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.”

Today was Halloween and I dressed up as a red Christmas elf.  Received quite a few smiles but I had a special delivery from the North Pole.”  The recipient laughed and was grateful for the visit.  Upon arriving home, I received a text thanking a Christmas Elf for bringing a blessing.

The original plan was to show up at work for our Halloween party dressed as an elf but as I was leaving the temple “What does Service mean to you?” Kept ringing in my ears.so my plans were changed.

For many years now, I have promised my Father In Heaven that I would serve Him with all my heart and soul.  Some days I fall flat on my face But I vowed today I was going to do better because for me there is no greater joy than being in the service of my God.

So, in closing, what does Service mean to you?  I hope that as you reflect on that simple question you shall have a desire to “…Embark in the service of your God, see that ye serve him with all your heart mind and strength…”  (D&C 4:2) 

For as James stated, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  (James 1:27)