My Talk, the way it was Supposed to Go Before the Printer Broke and I had to Fake It

We demonstrate our love by how well we serve our God. Remember when the Prophet Joseph Smith went to John E. Page and said to him, “Brother Page, you have been called on a mission to Canada.”

Brother Page, struggling for an excuse, said, “Brother Joseph, I can’t go to Canada. I don’t have a coat to wear.”

The Prophet took off his own coat, handed it to John Page, and said, “Wear this, and the Lord will bless you.” 

My grandparents volunteer with the homeless in downtown Milwaukee a lot.  Each year in the winter, they spend a lot of time trying to find coats for the people, because otherwise they literally freeze to death.  One man had no coat, and they had no more donated coats left, so my grandfather went home, went through his closet, and found a nice suede coat, and gave it to him.  A few weeks later, he ran into the man, and he didn't have the coat.  My grandpa asked where it was, and the gentleman said "Someone else needed it more than me."

That is true service.  Seeing a need, and filling it, even when the service you give may be the widow's mite.   

In Mormon Doctrine it says, "Service is synonymous with keeping the commandments of God; it is the child of love."  We keep the commandments because we love God, and serve others because we love God, and because we love God, we love and serve them.

1. D&C 42: 29
     29 If thou ^alovest me thou shalt ^bserve me and ^ckeep all my commandments.
2. James 1: 27
     27 Pure ^areligion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To ^bvisit the ^cfatherless and ^dwidows in their ^eaffliction, and to keep himself ^funspotted from ^gthe ^hworld.

   
   

Why do we serve?

• Sometimes as part of the repentance process as compensatory restitution when restitution in real terms is not possible.  
  
• We serve because it is a covenant obligation of all members of the church.  It is a vital part of our religion.
  
• We serve others to overcome feelings in inadequacy and become our best selves
  

When we serve, we forget ourselves, and spend our energy thinking about others.  We stretch ourselves as we go outside of our comfort zone, and as we forget our own challenges, and bring help and happiness to others, this brings us joy.

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught this concept most powerfully: “The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals. … Indeed, it is easier to ‘find’ ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!”7

• We serve to be instruments in the Lord's hands for good.  We may not know why we feel prompted to do some little act of service, but it could make a world of difference, or it could just make someone's day. My family recently went out to dinner, and an older woman with a cane came in to get some food.  She got her food to go, and was heading out the door.  My brother jumped up from his seat, ran across the restaurant, and held the door open for her.  As she continued to her car and got it started and pulled out, she was smiling and happy.  Maybe she had been having a great day already, but maybe that one thing made the difference for her.
  

1. Prov. 3: 5-6
     5 ¶ ^aTrust in the Lord with all thine ^bheart; and lean not unto thine ^cown ^dunderstanding.
     6 In all thy ways ^aacknowledge him, and he shall ^bdirect thy ^cpaths.

• One of the most powerful ways we can serve people is to listen to them.  Henry B Eyring said in the the April 2004 Conference, "When I was a young man, I served as counselor to a wise district president in the Church. He tried to teach me. One of the things I remember wondering about was this advice he gave: “When you meet someone, treat them as if they were in serious trouble, and you will be right more than half the time.”
  

It is part of human nature to want to connect to people.  We want to feel that someone cares enough to listen to us.  Be that person who cares enough to listen.  

1. Prov. 23: 7
     7 For as he ^athinketh in his ^bheart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

• We serve because that is who we want to be. We want to be like Christ.  Christ served, and the best way to understand someone is to do what they do, to share their experiences.  When we serve, as Christ did, and do what we can to share his experiences, we will grow to understand him better.  As Henry B. Eyring said in the April 2004 Conference, 
  

"In the Master’s service, you will come to know and love Him. You will, if you persevere in prayer and faithful service, begin to sense that the Holy Ghost has become a companion. Many of us have for a period given such service and felt that companionship. If you think back on that time, you will remember that there were changes in you. The temptation to do evil seemed to lessen. The desire to do good increased. Those who knew you best and loved you may have said, “You have become more kind, more patient. You don’t seem to be the same person.”

You weren’t the same person because the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. And the promise is real that we can become new, changed, and better. And we can become stronger for the tests of life. We then go in the strength of the Lord, a strength developed in His service. He goes with us. And in time we become His tested and strengthened disciples.

You will then notice a change in your prayers. They will become more fervent and more frequent. The words you speak will have a different meaning to you. By commandment we always pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. But you will feel a greater confidence as you pray to the Father, knowing that you go to Him as a trusted and proven disciple of Jesus Christ. The Father will grant you greater peace and strength in this life and with it a happy anticipation of hearing the words, when the test of life is over, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”