Showing God's Love Through My Service

In her recent talk in general conference, Sister Susan Porter told about a family member who left the Church twenty years ago but recently came back after a marvelous experience in which he was filled with the love of God. She recounted, “Remarkably, a few short months later, this family member received the same calling he had held 20 years before. The first time he held the calling, he performed his responsibilities as a dutiful member of the Church. Now the question for him became not ‘How can I fulfill this calling?’ but ‘How can I show God’s love through my service?’ With this new approach, he felt joy, meaning, and purpose in all aspects of his calling.” Each of us who has served in the Church has no doubt had the opportunity to ask how we can fulfill our calling the best way possible. We naturally want to make sure we can do everything that is expected of us, and surely that desire to do our best to serve in our calling is a good one. But here Sister Porter suggested through this story that a more profound and important question, one not focused as much on ourselves, is how we can show love to others through our service in the calling.

               This talk reminds me of the story that President Eyring told recently in general conference as well. He related how frightened he was as a young deacon when he moved to Utah and had to pass the sacrament to a large congregation. He said, “In my first sacrament meeting there, I observed the deacons—an army, it seemed to me—moving with precision as they passed the sacrament like a trained team. I was so frightened that the next Sunday I went early to the ward building to be by myself when no one could see me. I remember that it was the Yalecrest Ward in Salt Lake City, and it had a statue on the grounds. I went behind the statue and prayed fervently for help to know how not to fail as I took my place in passing the sacrament. That prayer was answered.” He had prayed for help to fulfill his assignment, and the Lord helped him succeed in that desire. But then he told how many years later he went to a care center to also pass the sacrament. He recounted, “Instead of thinking about the process or precision in the way I passed the sacrament, I instead looked in the faces of each elderly person. I saw many of them weeping. One lady grabbed my sleeve, looked up, and said aloud, ‘Oh, thank you, thank you.’ The Lord had blessed my service given in His name. That day I had prayed for such a miracle to come instead of praying for how well I might do my part. I prayed that the people would feel the Lord’s love through my loving service. I have learned this is the key to serving and blessing others in His name.” To seek to do our duty and fulfill our responsibilities is good, but to seek to help others feel the love of God through our service is even better.

               So as we serve in our various capacities we should seek first and foremost to help others feel our love and the love of God and not worry so much about whether we are doing everything expected of us. To do that we must earnestly pray for the gift of love from the Lord as Mormon invited us: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ” (Moroni 7:48). Sister Porter suggested that “Mormon is inviting us not only to pray that we may be filled with His love for others but to pray that we may know of God’s pure love for ourselves.” As we seek to be filled with God’s love for ourselves and for others in our service, we can “then shed forth His love in all we do and are.”