The Blessings of Giving Service

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

The phone rang last night about 8:45.  It's my friend Martin asking me if I had time tomorrow, Monday morning, to help a person move.  Yes, I do.  Monday is a holiday from work.  My only plans for the morning were to sleep in and take it easy.  But I have learned to say yes to opportunities to help another person.


Mormons are well-known for giving service. and having been a Mormon since my conversion in my youth, I have had many service opportunities.  Sometimes, especially when I was young, I served grudgingly.  But I come away from every service project feeling good about myself and the work we have accomplished.  While many tend to think of helping others in terms of what it does for the other person, at the end of the day I can't help but think I got the better end of the deal.


A few months ago I was asked to help clean out a drainage ditch at a camp.  I'm not a manual laborer by trade, and so this is going a bit out of my comfort zone.  I got my gloves, boots, and shovel and showed up where about 20 other men from church were gathered for the same purpose early on a Saturday morning.  The ditch was long, the dirt was deep and wet, and it was hard work for about 3 hours.  Yet it was one of the most enjoyable 3 hours I had in a long time.  Working shoulder to shoulder, we enjoyed friendly banter as we discovered how much we enjoy our day jobs.  The camp caretaker was abundant in his gratitude.  When it was over, we had a deep sense of satisfaction in a job well done and of a stronger brotherhood with each other.  Each of us came away with the feeling that we should do another project like this, but give us time for our sore muscles to heal first.


Today's move was easy.  Nine of us showed up.  We were moving the few possessions of a single woman, nothing too heavy or bulky.  We were done in about 90 minutes.  Again I felt good working together with my friends to help someone in need, someone I barely know.  It's not that I contributed that much.  The job would have gotten done without me.  I feel that I benefited as much in giving the service as the person who received it.


Learn more about giving Christian service at mormon.org.