On Sunday, I got the special honor of attending Relief Society for the first time in a long time. (If you are not a member of the church that I belong to, click here if you would like to learn more about what I am talking about.) I am in charge of the Primary (the children) and so I usually have to miss out on Relief Society. Anyways, this past Sunday I did receive the honor of attending Relief Society because it was our Visiting Teaching Conference. I loved this conference and it really helped me with certain aspects that I have always had a hard time with.
One of the quotations from this conference was from Julie B Beck of the General Relief Society Presidency who was talking about what she learned from Sister Camilla Kimball, and it says this: "Never suppress a generous thought". When I heard this quoted at my Visiting Teaching conference it reminded me that over the years, I have always had this thought with me in some form or another. It is a motto that I have tried to live my life by.
When Otto and I were living in the Married Student Housing at the University, we were so lucky to have 5 other families from our ward living in the same courtyard as us. Because of this, we were all in daily contact with each other and I would spend hours outside in the courtyard with the other wives and our little children, talking about our days and visiting. It was a really fun time in our marriage! Otto and I had some friends that we knew fairly well, but not extremely well who lived directly across from us and they had a son who was a little bit older than Abby. The wife and I were pregnant at the same time and we had our second babies 4 weeks apart. Having 2 children within a year of each other is REALLY hard, (but worth it later on) and I knew this because I would spend most of my days that first month crying all day long.
After Jen had her baby neither of us went outside very much because I think we were both a tad overwhelmed. There was one day that changed my life forever. It is a day I will never forget. I was having a pretty good day and I hadn't cried very much that day and so I was feeling pretty good about myself. However, I kept on getting this really strong feeling that I should go over to Jen's place and see if she would like for me to take her older son for awhile. I quickly rationalized this feeling away because I was pretty sure that I would end up overwhelmed and crying, and I didn't really know Jen all that well, and I had a new baby too, etc. . . . The feeling never went away though.
That night, her husband stopped by (I can't remember why he did) and I asked him how his wife was doing. He looked really sad and said that she had had the worst day ever and that she was feeling really overwhelmed and was really upset. He also said that he had had to leave school early just to be with her to calm her down. I FELT TERRIBLE! I KNEW that I should have listened to that feeling. It just wouldn't go away. Ever since that day I have tried to follow all strong impressions when I feel them.
This brings me back to the quotation that I mentioned earlier. We always hear that when we do good things for others, we receive blessings in return. I have learned, from experience, that this is the case. However, I have also learned that you don't always feel a warm fuzzy feeling inside, and you don't always get the thanks you deserve; sometimes it even backfires on you and people get really angry. However, you do get blessed. The blessings may come in different shapes and forms than you would expect, but they do come!
Service is an attitude. I have learned that from my Grandma Bennion. She is the ultimate example of service to me. When I think about service I see her face. Grandma Bennion taught me through example how to serve. When a friend of yours has a death in the family, don't call them and see what you can do to help, go over there, listen to them and just do things. Randomly show up and steal their kids for a few hours, bring them muffins and other snack foods for them to put out because they usually have to host families, attend the funeral service so that you can be there for your friend. Do things that YOU would like to have done for you if that ever happens and never tell them to ASK you for help because it won't happen. I can't even begin to tell you how many times people have done things for me when I have been in my weakest moments and it has completely changed my outlook on life and has given me the strength to go on.
So, learn from Sister Camilla Kimball and "Never supress a generous thought." It WILL pay off. I promise!
