Posts tagged: service
At the beginning of the year, Brother Rockwood was talking about service and how it helps more than just the person you’re serving. He illustrated this by saying, “My goal is to be able to do one hundred pushups by the end of the year. I want you guys to help me by doing this with me every morning. Now, this is all for me and my benefit, not for your own growth.” He actually made us do this a few days in a row and forgot, and he sometimes remembers and has us do it some more (although I don’t think that’s relevant).
As we serve, we are going to grow as well (well, as long as we let it do so). Remember that the benefits of service don’t just go to the person receiving said service, but you can as well.
What bothers me about NHS/NTHS is that it requires me to have the person/organization I did service for to sign a paper or give some contact info.
I vacuum an elderly sister’s house for her every week, and because she insists on paying me, I just donate all the money. I’d consider that service, but I don’t want to go to her and seem like I just want to get credit for something. I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that for any service activity. I want to give service so I can help someone, not to get hours for an organization.
Somehow having a minimum of 20 hours of service to be in an organization kind of takes away from the whole charitable feel of serving others.
When talking about the Good Samaritan, Brother Rockwood asked us this:
“Is there a time where you were like those who passed the helpless man? Passing up the opportunity to serve? Not only passed, but crossed the road to avoid it?”
I’m thankful for Brother Rockwood because he doesn’t teach the same things we’ve heard all our lives. He asks us questions that we answer for ourselves that make us realize that we can always be improving.
Yesterday, Brother Rockwood had us write something we wanted someone in our family to do for us.
“Okay, now, with the golden rule in mind, what are you going to do for them?”
So we wrote the same situation in terms of how we can serve a certain member of our family.
Today, he had us write a service we could do for someone in the class. We didn’t know who we would be serving. So we wrote it down on a piece of paper, and we picked services. From that point we treated it like a white elephant exchange, where you can choose one of the previous ones or choose a new one.
I’m supposed to be helping a guy in my ward with Duty to God that he already finished. Don’t know how it will work; should be interesting. Brother Rockwood’s son and his friend are taking Kevin and me out for lunch sometime. I don’t know them very well (if at all) so hopefully that turns out alright.
I just recalled what we talked about on Friday in seminary, and I’m so disappointed in myself for not writing it down sooner. I hope I can get all I can here in this post, because it’s one of my favorite things that Hermano Rocamadera has taught us.
Okay, to start off, he told us to imagine ourselves as a marble block. You know, the ones you’d carve statues out of. Okay, now, we’re being carved by God.
Brother Rockwood told us three things that helps shape us into what God envisions us to become.
The first two were simple to talk about. My favorite point that he explained in depth is the trials.
“This is when He really shapes us. This is when He gets out the jackhammer to make huge changes. This is when He takes out His polish to make us really shine. Some people ask why bad things happen to good people. That is why. Some people say that’s not fair. Oh, you guys, it is so fair. We have lived our lives to the best of our abilities, and God is giving us more opportunities to shine even brighter.”
Now, we can have trials harden us, or we can let them turn us to Christ. Will you allow God shape you, polish you, make improvements, or will you refuse and keep the less than perfect state you’re in?
I feel sad, therefore, I need to make a quick gratitude list. I thought I’d share because most of these things pertain to being LDS. In no particular order:
And, the ultimate icing on the cake:
When you’re down, make a gratitude list. I’m so much happier.
**Also, I didn’t mean for this to seem like a bragging post. I’m sorry if it came out that way…**
Yesterday, a young man in the ward got up to bear his testimony. This particular guy is known for his class clown attitude and joking around a lot, so it kind of surprised me when he got up and started crying as he spoke. He talked about how he was one of the few remaining young men to still be going to church. How there were a couple of priests to bless the sacrament and to pass it out they had to get adults. He was still friends with those boys that were inactive, and he spoke of how much it hurt when he couldn’t get them to come back. He brought up how sometimes he felt that people didn’t really appreciate the young men and all that they do. There seems to have been a riff that has come between the young men and young women in our ward. I’m planning to write the young man a letter (because I’m not so good at talking), so right now I’d like to speak to the young men here on Tumblr.
As a young woman, I have admired when you young men hold fast to your morals in the face of adversity, when you honor your priesthood, when you serve faithfully even when it’s not the cool thing to do. Although the girls may get annoyed as you make weird noises and play games on your phones, you have to understand that what you do to uphold your values does not go unnoticed. When you show up to church with no friends because they have gone inactive, my respect for you goes up. When you serve someone without been pushed to do so, I want to hug you and say good job.
I’m not very good at telling people that I admire them or to tell them congrats, so right now I’m trying to make up for that. Young men, please don’t think that your work goes unnoticed. Thank you so much for being so great at keeping your standards. Hold to them, and you’ll go far.
This video was aimed towards the children, but it can be applicable to everyone. Give service and make someone’s day brighter.
