A week or so ago, my sister, Courtney, invited me to join this blog - and oh! the joy! the enlightenment that has been found herein! :)
I haven't had time to read all the previous posts, but I assure you I will. I perused and I have to admit - I'm thoroughly excited. (and trying not to be thoroughly intimidated by you amazing, mighty, thoughtful women)
That being said, here is my introduction:
I am a woman, wife and mother of 2. I graduated from BYU with a degree in Nursing, though it was far from my passion. I was exceptionally interested in anthropology, psychology and biochemistry - but for a host of reasons I chose nursing. I worked in labor and delivery for five months but quit when I became pregnant with my daughter.
Being a mother is a humongous part of who I am, as is my being LDS. I served a mission in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission, and I wish I could give the gospel the undivided attention I gave it for that year and a half.
Like I said, I love this blog already. I have a keen interest in the female human experience, so the topics you have covered thus far have been fun to explore!
I am excited to get to know everyone better - and to contribute meaningfully.
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Thursday 5 March 2009
Exercise Charity and Nurture Those in Need
The third objective of the Relief Society is to "exercise charity and nurture those in need."
Firstly, I have to tell you about synchronicity. My life has been positively full of it lately. It began a couple weeks ago when I had some interesting and lovely connections with a longtime but far-away friend. I mentioned it to some people and was led to reading Consider the Butterfly by Carol Lynn Pearson. I have been noticing these meaningful coincidences all over the place, and now here I have another. Often I think synchronicity is God's way of speaking to us, and those meaningful coincidences can give us a boost-- they are the tender mercies (to use a cliched term) God grants us. And this is where the Relief Society objectives come in. My Relief Society lesson on Sunday was on Elder Holland's talk "The Ministry of Angels" from General Conference, and there was much discussion about how we, as sisters, can act as angels on errand from God to help others. I have been thinking so much about our lesson and how I need to be more in tune with God to be that messenger of charity and love. And, now, I finally get around to writing this post and I see that the next objective is to "exercise charity and nurture those in need." Synchronicity in deed!
The well-known scripture in Matthew tells us what will save us in the end: charity. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . ye have done it unto me." The ultimate judgment comes down to how we have treated one another, how we have cared for one another. As sisters in Relief Society, we have the responsibility to care for one another as women. I think I have mentioned visiting teaching in my other posts, but it is the easiest place to start. Looking around the room at church can be particularly daunting to know where to start with nurturing those in need, but in our visiting teaching assignments, we have (usually) two women we can start with. Whether or not a woman's needs are visible or dramatic, every woman needs to be nurtured. Every woman can benefit from another friend, from another caring person.
Charity can be a very vague term. "The pure love of Christ" is a wonderful defining term, but it doesn't do much for practical application. Whenever I think of serving those around me and being truly charitable, all I can think to do for people is to bake them something. This is a start. But I'm well aware it's nowhere near enough. I think this is where being truly in tune with God comes into play. Also, we need to be willing to completely throw our inhibitions out the window. When we see an opportunity to reach out to someone, it is so easy to reason our way out of it, but we must get in the habit of acting quickly when it comes to service. (99 times out of 100 I give in to my inhibitions instead of acting charitably. I must remedy this!)
Ultimately what I want to stress in this post is the importance of this objective. One line in Elder Holland's talk is "God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face." I truly think it is our responsibility to be God's emissaries, to be charitable and to nurture our fellow sisters so that they feel God's love through us. (Go read Elder Holland's talk again. Seriously.)
But the question I have for you is how to apply this practically. What do you think are the most important ways to show charity? How have others been meaningfully charitable to you? In what other ways is "exercising charity and nurturing those in need" important? Please tell me all your other thoughts about exercising charity and nurturing those in need.
Firstly, I have to tell you about synchronicity. My life has been positively full of it lately. It began a couple weeks ago when I had some interesting and lovely connections with a longtime but far-away friend. I mentioned it to some people and was led to reading Consider the Butterfly by Carol Lynn Pearson. I have been noticing these meaningful coincidences all over the place, and now here I have another. Often I think synchronicity is God's way of speaking to us, and those meaningful coincidences can give us a boost-- they are the tender mercies (to use a cliched term) God grants us. And this is where the Relief Society objectives come in. My Relief Society lesson on Sunday was on Elder Holland's talk "The Ministry of Angels" from General Conference, and there was much discussion about how we, as sisters, can act as angels on errand from God to help others. I have been thinking so much about our lesson and how I need to be more in tune with God to be that messenger of charity and love. And, now, I finally get around to writing this post and I see that the next objective is to "exercise charity and nurture those in need." Synchronicity in deed!
The well-known scripture in Matthew tells us what will save us in the end: charity. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . ye have done it unto me." The ultimate judgment comes down to how we have treated one another, how we have cared for one another. As sisters in Relief Society, we have the responsibility to care for one another as women. I think I have mentioned visiting teaching in my other posts, but it is the easiest place to start. Looking around the room at church can be particularly daunting to know where to start with nurturing those in need, but in our visiting teaching assignments, we have (usually) two women we can start with. Whether or not a woman's needs are visible or dramatic, every woman needs to be nurtured. Every woman can benefit from another friend, from another caring person.
Charity can be a very vague term. "The pure love of Christ" is a wonderful defining term, but it doesn't do much for practical application. Whenever I think of serving those around me and being truly charitable, all I can think to do for people is to bake them something. This is a start. But I'm well aware it's nowhere near enough. I think this is where being truly in tune with God comes into play. Also, we need to be willing to completely throw our inhibitions out the window. When we see an opportunity to reach out to someone, it is so easy to reason our way out of it, but we must get in the habit of acting quickly when it comes to service. (99 times out of 100 I give in to my inhibitions instead of acting charitably. I must remedy this!)
Ultimately what I want to stress in this post is the importance of this objective. One line in Elder Holland's talk is "God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face." I truly think it is our responsibility to be God's emissaries, to be charitable and to nurture our fellow sisters so that they feel God's love through us. (Go read Elder Holland's talk again. Seriously.)
But the question I have for you is how to apply this practically. What do you think are the most important ways to show charity? How have others been meaningfully charitable to you? In what other ways is "exercising charity and nurturing those in need" important? Please tell me all your other thoughts about exercising charity and nurturing those in need.
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