Ye Have Done it Unto Me

Last month President Nelson posted a message when it was 100 days before his 100^th birthday. In it he said this: “One spiritual offering that would brighten my life is for each of us to reach out to ‘the one’ in our lives who may be feeling lost or alone. Over the coming months I invite you to consider prayerfully: who do you know who may be discouraged? Who might you need to reconcile with or ask for forgiveness? Has one name been on your mind lately, though you haven’t quite known why? As you bring these questions to the Lord, He will inspire you to know how you can reach out and lift one who needs help.” This reminds me of a similar invitation that President Monson gave on his 90^th birthday. Elder Gary E. Stevenson related in 2017: “On August 21 of this year, two rare events occurred that captured the attention of people around the world. The first was the 90th birthday celebration of our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson…. Of course, President Monson, mindful of those desiring to wish him happy birthday, described an ideal birthday gift: ‘Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely and do something for them. That’s all I would ask.’ We love and sustain you, President Monson.” Both these prophets, who spent their lives in the service of others, encouraged us to find ways to serve someone else as a birthday “gift” to them. They knew and lived by the principle taught by King Benjamin, “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).

               Both these invitations for birthday “gifts” were given towards the end of these prophets’ lives (though we hope and pray that President Nelson still has several years with us). The Savior also taught how important service to others is at the very end of His life. He told the parable of the sheep and the goats during His final week in mortality, and in it He said this: “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” The parable continues by highlighting that these people who had served others did not ever remember doing it to the Savior, but He told them, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:34-36, 40). As a parent I can understand this idea easily: how grateful I am when someone does something to help or serve one of my children—I am more grateful for that than I would be if they did something for myself directly. The Savior wants us to see Him in all the people we meet and interact with each day, and He invites us to find ways to serve and help and lift those around us. That is how we show love to Him.   

               In addition to teaching us directly about the importance of service, King Benjamin also invited parents to do this: “But ye will teach [your children] to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another” (Mosiah 4:15). Surely one of the most important things that we can teach our kids is to learn to think about others more than themselves. We want them to discover the joy of helping and serving those around them. I have one daughter who has perhaps learned this more quickly than her siblings, and I think she has come to understand it by watching her mother. Recently as her own birthday approached, this daughter expressed a desire to give something unique to each of her friends for her party, focusing not on what she would receive but what she could give. Similarly, one Halloween she also did “reverse” trick-or-treating and took a few gifts around to some older people in our neighborhood and offered them that instead of asking for candy for herself. She is an excellent reminder to me that I need to focus more on those around me and seek to teach my children through my actions that we are happiest and most fulfilled when we find ways to serve and lift others. I hope we can all offer to President Nelson the gift he has asked for by seeking more earnestly to help and serve those in need around us.