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I often travel for work, and I like to take the opportunity, rather than be at the hotel and just watch what comes on TV, to go out and meet somebody, take somebody to dinner. One day I went out and saw a gentleman, asked him if he was hungry, and he said "Sure." And so we went off to--we found a local diner. Probably been days, if not weeks, since he had had an opportunity to shower, change clothes. And as we came in, the waitress comes up to help us, and she takes us into a back room. Because of probably the smell and other things, they thought, "Hey, it'll be more convenient if they're in this back room." There wasn't really anyone dining in there. It was pretty busy out in the main room, which was fine. It made it easy for us to talk to each other. The conversation was going well, but it had been a long time, a lot longer than you're used to waiting to get your menus. And so I went out, found the waitress. As soon as she saw me, you could see it. She said, "I'm so sorry. I'll bring you your menus right away." And she comes back and brings us the menus. And again we got to look over it. We got back in the conversation. A long time had gone by. Again, as soon as she saw me, "Oh, I'm so sorry." And she quickly came back and took our order. She apologized and brought us our food. And then it repeated one more time when it came time to get our check. We had long since finished eating. She brought us our check. And then I said goodbye to him. We had a good talk, and he went on his way, and I went back to the hotel. And as I thought about that, their mistreatment of us I don't think had any ill intent. I don't think they thought of us as any less of a customer than anybody else. But then they just got busy. As I thought about that, it just hits me again and again how often that we do that in our day-to-day lives, that there's just so much clamor, so much things for our distraction in our jobs, and we just forget about the people in the back room. They're not in front of our mind. There's those in society that--they're in a different part of town that we don't see them. When I think about this experience, the story that always comes to my mind--when they were in the streets of Jerusalem, the crowded street, and Christ is walking through with His Apostles. And the woman reaches out to just touch the hem of Christ's robe to be healed. And what really ties it in for me is the fact that Christ says to the Apostles, "Who touched me?" And the Apostles look at Him and say, "Are you crazy? Look around you. Who touched you? Everyone touched you. We're in the middle of a crowded street." And no matter how many distractions were there, Christ knew and could feel someone reaching out to Him. And I wonder, How do we cultivate that in ourselves? That we just live in a world that is so noisy. A moment that goes by that you don't have a phone or something to listen to, a podcast or something--we're so noisy that, How do we feel and sense when someone reaches out? And clearly the Savior could. I often wonder, "How do I get that in my life?" So I ask myself that a lot. How do I remember the people in the back room that are forgotten? And I think a lot of it is being willing to take time to turn off the TV, to set away the phone, and just ask Heavenly Father, "Who is it that needs me? Who is it that's out there?" In my life, the times that I do that--and I wish I did it more often--those prayers are answered. He can let you know who it is that you know that's in need. And I think as we become someone who regularly is willing to serve people without judging, people sense that. People realize--just like that woman knew that Christ was the one she could reach out to, people will know that you're someone they can reach out to. And those opportunities will be multiplied.

How to Remember Those in the Back Room of Our Lives | His Hands

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Sometimes we get so busy that we forget those in the background of our lives who are reaching out and need our service, says Nathaniel, describing a moment when a waitress repeatedly forgot him.
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