"Doing Good to Others" Teachings of the Presidents of the Church Lesson 22

Source

This lesson starts by telling how President Snow was journeying  through Iowa in February of 1846.  The weather was difficult and they struggled through rain, snow, and mud.  One day they ran into a gentleman who needed help carrying his trunk.  There was no room in President's Snows wagon, but they did not turn him away and made room for his stuff.

That next day, the axle on their wagon broke.  They were miles from the nearest house and the nearest town with no way to fix the wagon.  Yet, they were blessed to find this gentleman who they hadn't turned away was a wagon maker and fixed the axle better than it had been to start with.

By doing this small act of service, President Snow and his family were blessed to have the answer to their problems when they arrived.

A repeating pattern that shows up in this lesson, and with service, is how many times in the service of others did it bring about a much needed answer or start a sweet blessing in our own lives?

President snow touches on this when he talks about the rewards of teaching; 

"Let a man remember that there are others that are in darkness and that have not advanced so far in knowledge, wisdom and intelligence, and let him impart that knowledge, intelligence and power unto his friends and brethren, inasmuch as he is farther advanced than they are, and by so doing he will soon discover that his mind will expand, and that light and knowledge which he had gained would increase and multiply more rapidly."

President Snow continues;

"Now an individual in order to secure the highest and greatest blessings to himself, in order to secure the approbation of the almighty, and in order to continually improve in the things pertaining to righteousness, he must...go to work and be willing to sacrifice for the benefit of his friends." 

There's a story that comes from the life of President Monson that shows how he had a wise mother who taught him this at a very young age.

"Sunday dinner was a big event in the Monson home, featuring roast beef with gravy and mashed potatoes. On Monday the family ate leftovers from Sunday dinner. On Tuesday they had stew from the end of the roast. Wednesday they had pork chops, and on Thursday a sirloin steak that fed everyone at the table. Friday was lamb chops or fish, and Saturday link-sausage sandwiches. Variations included Lima beans and ham one night, homemade meat pies another. Chopped fruit salad with marshmallows was a favorite, as was rice pudding. Gladys was known for her cakes. She often tinted each layer a different color—green on the bottom, pink in the middle, and yellow on the top—and covered the whole cake with thick chocolate frosting. Even Old Bob got one of Gladys’s cakes for his ninetieth birthday, with nine candles, one for each decade."

"Every Sunday Gladys would prepare a plate of food for Old Bob; before the family sat down to dinner, she would send Tommy off with the plate. One Sunday he asked, “Why don’t I take it down later?”

"His mother responded, “You do what I say, and your food will taste better.”

"He wasn’t sure what she meant, but he headed off for Old Bob’s, waiting anxiously as aged feet brought his neighbor to the door. Bob reached for a dime to reward the delivery boy. “Oh, Mr. Dicks,” said Tommy, “I wouldn’t want to take your money. My mother would tan my hide.”

“My boy, you have a wonderful mother,” Bob said as he patted Tommy’s blond hair."

"When Tommy got back, his dinner did taste better. “I didn’t realize,” he recalls, “I was learning a most powerful and important lesson about caring for those less fortunate.”

Why does our happiness increase when we help others find happiness?

How can we as parents and grandparents help our children to learn this truth?

If there is anything that life and service teaches, it is that helping those around us and spending our time on someone elses' needs cures our sadness and mutes our own troubles.

"...When you find yourselves a little gloomy, look around you and find somebody that is in a worse plight than yourself; go to him and find out what the trouble is, then try to remove it with the wisdom which the Lord bestows upon you; and the first thing you know, your gloom is gone, you feel light, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, and everything seems illuminated."

I know many of you have heard how we were flooded in the mid west floods several years ago.  As bad as I felt we had it, it wasn't until I got out there and helped the others recovering that I could see how blessed we were, and sometimes, how to fix our own troubles.

Joseph Smith's favorite hymn, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, illustrates this wonderfully, especially verses two and five.

2. Once, when my scanty meal was spread,

He entered; not a word he spake,

Just perishing for want of bread.

I gave him all; he blessed it, brake,

And ate, but gave me part again.

Mine was an angel's portion then,

For while I fed with eager haste,

The crust was manna to my taste.

5. Stript, wounded, beaten nigh to death,

I found him by the highway side.

I roused his pulse, brought back his breath,

Revived his spirit, and supplied

Wine, oil, refreshment--he was healed.

I had myself a wound concealed,

But from that hour forgot the smart,

And peace bound up my broken heart.

It seems to magnify our blessings even more when our service is outside our circle of loved family members and friends.

Why do you think this is?

When it is truly selfless and doesn't benefit us in any direct way, the heavens seem to see this and reflect it.

While big efforts and service are noteworthy and needed in some cases, none of us can overestimate the power of a few kind words in some one's day.  Small acts of service add up quickly and we have the opportunity to do them every single day, especially within our own family.

"We have been sent into the world to do good to others; and in doing good to others we do good to ourselves. We should always keep this in view, the husband in reference to his wife, the wife in reference to her husband, the children in reference to their parents, and the parents in reference to their children. There is always opportunity to do good to one another."

President Snow describes a heightened sense of others around us as godliness:

"We have just got to feel … that there are other people besides ourselves; we have got to look into the hearts and feelings of others, and become more godly than what we are now."

When we get to the other side of the veil, we will remember each other and remember the feeling of love, affection and friendship that we may not remember now.

"We are of the same Father in the celestial worlds. … If we knew each other as we should, … our sympathies would be excited more than they are at the present time, and there would be a desire on the part of every individual to study in their own minds how they might do their brethren good, how they might alleviate their sorrows and build them up in truth, how [they might] remove the darkness from their minds. If we understand each other and the real relationship which we hold to each other, we should feel different from what we do; but this knowledge can be obtained only as we obtain the Spirit of life, and as we are desirous of building each other up in righteousness."

One of the fruits of the Spirit is to cause us to be more interested in each other and more aware and concerned one for each other.  

"Be upright, just and merciful, exercising a spirit of nobility and godliness in all your intentions and resolutions—in all your acts and dealings. Cultivate a spirit of charity; be ready to do for others more than you would expect from them if circumstances were reversed. Be ambitious to be great, not in the estimation of the worldly minded, but in the eyes of God, and to be great in this sense, “Love the Lord our God with all your might, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” You must love mankind because they are your brethren, the offspring of God. Pray diligently for this spirit of philanthropy, this expansion of thought and feeling, and for power and ability to labor earnestly in the interest of Messiah’s kingdom."

The church, and Relief Society in specific, are set up for us to help and serve one another.  As we do so, it will cultivate more love and service within our own lives, homes, and hearts.  If we look for these opportunities and pray for new ones, we will draw closer to our Heavenly Father and be more like His son, Jesus Christ.

Much of this lesson was inspired by Classic Mormon Mom.