Relief Society Lesson 3/28/10

What Have I Done For Someone Today?
President Thomas S. Monson
October 2009 General Conference

President Monson said he had felt prompted to share this message with us.

President Monson spoke about a doctor, Jack McConnell, who was one of the seven children of a Methodist minister and a stay-at-home mom. He said that at the dinner table, his father would ask each of the children, "And what did you do for someone today?" The children wanted to have something to report, so would try each day to serve someone else. Dr. McConnell called this exercise his father's most valuable legacy because it inspired the children to serve throughout their lives. Dr. McConnell went on to help in the medical field by helping with the development of Tylenol and the MRI, among other things. After he retired, he volunteered 60 hours a week and found a satisfaction that he had never before found in his life.

President David O. McKay made this statement in the Octiber 1963 general conference: "Man's greatest happiness comes from losing himself for the good of others."

Often we live side by side but do not communicate heart to heart. There are those within the sphere of our own influence who, with outstretched hands, cry out, "Is there no balm in Gilead?"

I am confident it is the intention of each member of the Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to "bear one another's burdens, that they may be light." How many times has your heart been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you've left it for others to help, feeling that "oh, surely someone will take care of that need."

Too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes.

President Monson shared this poem:

I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody's need made me blin;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regreat
For being a little too kind.

President Monson spoke about how for he told a reporter that the ideal birthday gift for him would be to "Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely, and do something for him or her."

He was overwhelmed by the letters he received from members of the Church telling him the service they had done as a birthday gift to him.

*Sister Dunford gave this beautiful lesson. We had a beautiful discussion on service. We talked about how the giver and the receiver are both blessed and that sometimes we are on the giving end and sometimes we are on the receiving end. No matter what side we are on, we should allow the service to be done so blessings can be received. Sometimes we don't have the health or strength to serve like others may be able to, but we can all serve in one way or another. Our service may be a kind word or sharing words of wisdom with another. It may be as simple as pulling a neighbor's weed or making a phone call. When we serve others, we are really serving God. President Monson has been such a wonderful example of giving service. May we be more mindful of others and serve each other daily.