Area Leadership Message
Finding Joy in His Service
In his final address to the people of Zarahemla, King Benjamin reminded them that service to each other is the way to serve Heavenly Father. He explained, “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” (Mosiah 2:17). If our service to our neighbor represents our service to God, then we could ask, what does He desire and how can we be of help to Him? The scriptures remind us that God’s work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life” (Moses 1:39) of His children. His work, said Elder David A. Bednar, “is focused first, foremost, and always upon serving people.”1 He gives us opportunities to participate in this great work by inviting us to love and serve each other.
Serving in less-than-ideal circumstances brings joy
A few weeks ago, I was heavily swamped with several personal activities happening in my life. A prior commitment to help a sister with a need she had was approaching in the middle of all I had to do already. I found myself thinking almost despairingly, “How can I find joy in this service?” Immediately another thought occurred which caused me to reframe my perspective, “how can I find joy in His service?”
President Nelson reminds us that, “the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
“When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation . . . and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him.”2
As I reframed my perspective, I was reminded that despite my less-than-ideal circumstances, my willingness to serve others and focus on Jesus Christ would bring me joy.
The Lord will magnify our little
Sometimes we might be tempted to feel that our little will never be adequate to meet the many needs before us. This can cause us to withdraw or to avoid invitations to provide relief to someone in need. The Saviour taught us that through Him our little can be magnified. In the book of Mark, we read of His disciples being weary and hungry from a grueling day of burying John the Baptist who was beheaded and other activities. After deciding to go to a desert place to rest, they, along with Jesus, were intercepted by a group of people who saw them departing. Jesus Christ, having compassion upon the people despite His own grief and fatigue, taught the multitude until the day was over.
“And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
“Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. . . .
“He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
“And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
“And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
“And they did all eat, and were filled.” (See Mark 6:35–36, 38, 40–42.)
Christ’s simple question to the disciples proved to be heuristic: “How many loaves have ye?” When opportunities to serve present themselves, we are only required to bring what we have regardless of how little our offering might be. We can do this as the Saviour demonstrated by looking heavenward through prayer. Christ will take our little time, our little resources, our little knowledge even our little faith and magnify it to meet the needs of the multitude.
When we lift the burden of others, our load lightens
A few months ago, while participating in a service activity I was able to observe a sister who was heavily expecting. I wondered how much she would be able to offer while carrying such a physically demanding load. The agility and energy with which this sister moved to help lift a load for another needing relief, seemed to have lightened her own load. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985) observed, “Only when you lift a burden, God will lift your burden. Divine paradox this! The man who staggers and falls because his burden is too great can lighten that burden by taking on the weight of another’s burden.”3
Though the opportunities for service may come at inopportune times when we have very little to give and our own burdens overwhelm us, we can care for others by taking our offering to the Lord. As we look to Him, He will help us to love and to serve our neighbor. I bear witness that Jesus Christ lives and has the power to magnify our little to fill all within our reach. As we turn to Him, we can be assured that He will lift our burdens and provide a way for us to move forward.