Thursday, January 30, 2014

Forget Yourself and Go to Work

"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of God."  The fastest, quickest, simplest way to be happy....besides smiling....is to do something for someone else.  To forget ourselves in the service of someone else.  Because we are God's children, when we help eachother, we are filled with His Spirit of love and peace. 

When I am unhappy, grumpy, burdened, low, or sad, nothing, and I mean this, NOTHING picks me up faster than performing a small act of kindness.  Holding the door for someone carrying an arm full of packages; doing the dishes for my mom or roommate; listening and being there for someone who is having a rougher time of life than me.  The list could be endless of simple services we can give one another.  Your spirit will lift because it has been made light through thinking of someone elses needs before your own.  Don't believe me? Put it to the test!

I have spent the last year of my life learning to serve other people and putting them before my self.  Being a missionary is a wonderful experience where your focus is helping others.  It can be a real challenge though.  Every morning of everyday for 18 months from 6:30am when I wake up to 10:30pm at night I am going to work in the service of others.  I'm away from my family and my home in a new place full of new cultures and people who I do not know and who are not always thrilled when I knock on their door.  I do all I can to spread the happiness I have found through my faith, sometimes people listen, sometimes I enjoy a breeze from their door slamming in my face.  It has been the most difficult and most rewarding year of my life.  Why?  Because my focus has been turned to other people and on my Savior Jesus Christ. 

The former President of our church, Gordon B. Hinckley also served a mission in his youth across the seas in England.  When experiencing some of the challenges I've mentioned and many more I haven't, young Gordon wished to quit and return home to his family and life.  Elder Hinckley wrote in a letter to his father that he felt he was wasting his time and his father’s money. A little while later, Elder Hinckley received a reply from his dad. It said, “Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: forget yourself and go to work.”
Earlier that morning during scripture study, Elder Hinckley had read in the Bible: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35).
“With my father’s letter in hand, I went into our bedroom in the house at 15 Wadham Road, where we lived, and got on my knees and made a pledge with the Lord. I covenanted that I would try to forget myself and lose myself in His service."
A simple suggestion, "forget yourself and go to work," changed President Hinckley's life to a life of serving his fellowman.  This same suggestion has not only helped me on my mission to forget myself and my needs to instead be in the service of my fellowmen, but my life as well.  So do the same!  If you today, right now, purpose in your heart to serve and then you do!  I promise that today, right now, you will feel an increase of happiness, it will be instant and you will recognize it.  You feel that you have done good in the world today, an example of which you can see in this video.

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