Living a life of service

Last week I was channel surfing trying to find some mindless entertainment that was not too crass or offensive. I landed on the local PBS station. The program was part way over and I had no idea what it was about, starving kids in Africa it looked like. The man that was talking was talking about adopting children from this place. What caught my attention was when he said, "We decided that if we could take 2, we could take 3. And if we could take 3, we could take 4." Turns out that in the end if he could take 4 he could take 6. Wow, talk about instant family.

This peaked my attention, having an adopted child myself I am always interested in others' adoption stories. As the program went on, it turns out it was not just any old adoption story. The man went on to help the village where he adopted his children. He then knew he wanted to do more than just take a load of one time supplies, but give them something that would continue. He started a program called Village of Hope. Turns out that if he can help 1 village, he can help 2. If he can help 2, he can help 3..........

Then he told of another volunteer that came to teach the men how to make cement huts so that they would have more permanent shelters to live in. This was a great thing. But there was even more to that story. The man had just gotten married and he and his wife came to the village to give service as their honeymoon. I think that there can be no better way to begin a new life together than by giving to others. What a wonderful, selfless thing to do. It would have been so much easier to take a cruise or vacation in Niagra Falls, but instead they went to the hot deserts of Africa with the sand and the sun and the bugs and no modern convienences and slept in the dirt to help someone else obtain a home to live in. A home smaller than my living room and kitchen combined.

Then a couple of days later I was browsing through the blogs I like to peruse and on David Woolley's blog was the posting of his trip to Guatamala as a chaperone to a 10th grade student helping with a Choice Humanitarian project. Zip over there and read it, you will be impressed.
Later in the week, David posted about Dianne Odell and this one sentece stuck out to me:

"Dianne gave them the chance to care, the opportunity to give, and the hope of being found with a charity-filled soul."

That started me thinking again about the PBS Village of Hope program. I then started thinking about my own life and how often I don't take the opportunities that are presented to me to give to others. I sit in my climate controlled house with my abundance of clothes and food and stuff and vegitate in front of the t.v. or computer and shut the outside world away. Too often I fixate on my lack of (take your pick, insert whatever my latest whine was).

Today in Sunday School it was Mosiah 25, Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah and the pride cycle. What was it about the generation that were too young to understand King Benjamin's words so they did not follow the prophet and live Christlike lives. No, they wanted and took and flattered others into the paths of sin. Now, I think I am a pretty good person, but am I letting my comort level lull me into a life of complacency? Do I give when I have the opportunity? Do I wait and hope someone else will do it instead?

Now I may not be able to fly off to Africa or Guatamala, but I can walk across the street and visit with my neighbor, whom I know is lonely and just needs a listening ear. I can put a few extra cookies on a plate and take them to the new family down the block. I can even introduce myself to the neighbors that I have never spoken to because I don't see them at church. I can go to the temple once a month and do the work for someone. I do have 3 temples within 20 miles of me and 2 more almost completed in that same area- no excuse other than complacency.

My challenge to me this next month and to each of you is this: Find one way of giving of yourself in an act of service. Then go to your journal and record what you did and how you felt. Then start over and do it again.